Beyond the Boundary
by QueenofMakeBelieve
Summary: After the Great War, the world outside the Kingdom lines, or Boundaries, was left uninhabitable for all. Elizabeta Hedervary has always lived at and beyond the Boundary line and been safe. But when Elizabeta becomes Queen of Clubs and strangers visit all the Kingdoms claiming to be from beyond the boundary, can the citizens face their fear of Mutants and pass the line? Cardverse.
1. Chapter 1

Many years ago, the world was unified under one kingdom and there was peace. Technology advanced and art prospered. But, as happens with all kingdoms eventually, the Kings and Queens became power hungry, rebellions started to spark up, and there was need for an army again. It became what you would call a dictatorship when the Queen, Jack, and Council all "mysteriously died" and the King insisted he could rule alone. Since there was no longer a need to fight outside forces, the King turned on inside problems, individuality. he had ultimate weapons created and everything.

What eventually caused the Great War was internal fights for power within the ranks of soldiers the King had drafted. This Great War destroyed the buildings and landscape. Only around 1000 people survived and created 4 kingdoms in the remaining useable land. Those kingdoms have expanded as buildings have been cleared and landscapes restored, and technology returned at different rates and advancements.

Now you can hardly tell there was a War except in stories and passing the boundaries of the remaining world. Outside it is an uninhabitable landscape of crumbled buildings and toxic plants. Or so they say. Elizabeta Hedervary had always lived at the edge of the kingdom called Clubs. She had seen the world outside the boundary, a line carved into the ground in front of her house, and had passed into it quite often. Especially when she was younger and her best friend, Gilbert Beilschmidt was still in Clubs. His family had run to Hearts just south of the mountain range bordering her home when they were both 11and his little brother Ludwig was 9. Elizabeta hadn't heard from them since. Not that it mattered to her.

Elizabeta threw herself onto the rotting wood of a chair in her kitchen and sighed before standing up again and muttering to herself about not having time for a break. She walked down the creaking hallway and into the room she shared with her "little sister" Eva. Eva was only 14 and still at the court house with the few educated people their mountainous village had thrown together and called a school that Elizabeta had convinced her to go to even though her older brother Lars hadn't . Elizabeta quickly changed from her uniform-type thing from school into her protective gear for her job at Barrier Patrol.

their little village was positioned at the edge of what used to be a city so it was split between the ruins (Dubbed Love of War by the village members) and the Toxic Forest where every plant was supposedly poisonous. At Barrier Patrol, Elizabeta's job was to exterminate all animals that might be living in the Toxic Forest because they were Contaminated and to help clear the Love of War and the Toxic Forest so the barrier could be extended and Club's kingdom increased. the only tools available for this task were shovels and axes. Every night after school Elizabeta worked alongside Lars to extend their village by mere centimeters each day while Eva cooked dinner for when they returned.

Elizabeta had been repeating this pattern for almost three years and now that she was eighteen, people had been telling her to quit her job, drop out of school and find herself a husband. Elizabeta had always laughed off these suggestions with a wave of her hand but as of late she had been debating whether she should do this and live her life as a woman instead of "taking Gilbert's place" as Lars had phrased it. in doing so she would have to quit passing the barrier without her protective gear on and would have to leave Eva with only Lars' income. She would have to spend her days inside sewing and cooking and all that other stuff she wasn't good at.

It was another day of back-breaking work using a shovel to remove rubble and the first layer of dirt from the Love of War. The rubble and dirt was then moved with wheelbarrows farther away from the Barrier to be dealt with another day. Elizabeta liked to look at the intact remains laying about where houses and homes used to exist and think about the people who owned them and their purposes. if they were of any significance or if they were just necessities to daily life. She would make up stories about their owners and their meanings and their lives, sometimes taking them home and telling Eva these stories when she was young enough to believe them. In today's load, Elizabeta found a slightly rusty iron frying pan, the reliable kind that wasn't made anymore. This item didn't require a story, but with enough scrubbing it could be useful. Elizabeta decided to take it home and tell Eva she bought it from the traveling salesman who sometimes came to their village.

With this in mind, Elizabeta slipped the pan into her protective gear and continued on working like she normally did. She never feared her scavenged items being Contaminated because they'd never caused anything to her and her family. Yet. After the workday was over Elizabeta trudged home with Lars through the dark streets of the old-fashioned village. The warm house was inviting after the dropping temperatures of the night and the howling wind that had started up, threatening to turn the dark clouds overhead into a full-blown storm. The light from the stove illuminated the entire living room/kitchen and made Eva's silhouette look like a shadow creature coming to attack them at the door with her outstretched talons.

They all settled down to eat and Elizabeta presented the frying pan to Eva who was extremely grateful because their old one had been stained and burned. Elizabeta settled down to sleep in her shared bed with a full stomach and a happy heard and slowly drifted to a sleep plagued with dreams of Contamination and Jokers, War and Heartbreak. Dreams of the past.

A/N: Ok so this is my first fanfic (lol totally tricked you!) and I want to know what you think. Eva is Belgium and Lars is Netherlands. I've heard those names somewhere so they're what I'm using. I'll most likely only be able to update on Saturdays (snow day today) and sometimes not then. I'm pretty new on FF so please tell me if i screwed something up. Also, pairings are yet to be decided so keep that in mind~ ;). And the title sucks because I have no ability to name stuff. Seriously. Well this is the end of my ridiculously long author's note! Hasta la pasta!


	2. Chapter 2

Roderich Edelstein ran into the grand parlor where lords, ladies, servants, and royalty restlessly awaited news of the queen. The desperate look on his face gave the news away and as princess Katyusha Braginskaya burst into tears Roderich shared the news anyway. "It appears Queen Irunya Cherneko will be able to recover from the strange disease that has plagued her. the Jokers who have come told me the only way is for her to become a Joker and the Queen does not want to do that. I suggest we start looking for another Queen at once." With that he swiftly turned away into another room, covering his face as he went. News of the Queen's impending death brought most in the room to tears, especially those who were close to her.

King Ivan Braginski stood and marched to the Queen's chambers, not daring to show his emotion about his mother's death until he had made it to her side. Princesses Natalia Arlovskaya and Katyusha followed him through the green halls speckled with deeper green clubs. The grass colored carpets muted their footsteps as they approached the emerald door of the Queen's bedchamber and went through without knocking. The sight of the Jokers around her mother made Katyusha cry harder and Natalia stiffen. They weren't used to seeing the sharp teeth, pointed ears, scaly skin, or the long flicking tail of the Contaminated Jokers. Their black clothing almost symbolized the impending death of the Queen.

Gilbert Beilschmidt, President of the Jokers, turned upon sensing their entry into the room. His ever-present smirk widened when he noticed the King among them. "You call the awesome me all the way to the Capital of Clubs from the Center just to have my treatments rejected? As the awesome President I have jobs to do instead of just attending to your every unawesome whim." Ivan simply pushed Gilbert (he let it go because of the Queen's dying though Gilbird squawked once to the push) out of the way and keeled by his mother's side. Irunya looked weakly over at Ivan and motioned with her eyes for him to come closer.

When he got his face within whispering distance of Irunya started talking in her weakened voice. _It shouldn't sound like she's already given up_ Ivan thought with tears finally running down his face. "You've only become King a year ago and you still have much to learn. Tun to Roderich in my absence. HE remembers everything." Ivan barely held back a sob at that. It made everything happening seem so real when it couldn't be. There was no way. "DO not allow either of your sisters to become Queen. Say it's to uphold tradition and search for one yourself. You'll know who to pick. This is my deathbed wish. Please make it come true." Irunya then gave in to a fit of hacking coughs that echoed off the walls of the silent chamber. Gilbert and the other Jokers had left the room to give the family some privacy.

Ivan wasn't very surprised at his mother's request to not allow his sisters to become Queen. Katyusha was too weak and Natalia was too strong. If he picked Natalia (who was 16), Katysha would run away fearing she was a bother to them. Not to mention that Natalia would turn all tyrannical and crazy within a week (she would.). If he picked Katyusha (who was 21), Natalia would get jealous and kill her. Maybe even him. Plus, she would leave all the decisions to somebody else thinking they knew best. There was the option of letting the Ace Toris Laurinaitis, who would be standing in until the next Queen was found, become full-time; but then Ivan would have to find another Ace of Clubs and Irunya asked him to search. It was settled. He would travel to every village in the land and speak with every eighteen-year-old, as was custom for the Queen to be coronated at age eighteen.

Ivan turned around to take in the scene before his with puffy eyes. The green of the room seemed foreboding, seeping disease and rot. Irunya was whispering into a hysterical Katyusha's ear, trying to get her to calm while Natalia was hugging Ivan's waist and refusing to look at anybody telling him she was crying. They just stayed like that for a while. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours. Ivan was too busy worrying to know.

What was going to happen to his sisters when they no longer had their mother to protect them?

What would happen with Roderich and all the extra stress it would bring him?

How would Toris do standing in for Queen? Would the Kingdom function properly without its Ace?

He would have to begin his search for Queen right away if he was to make sure everything would be okay. Then they would have to train the Queen without an experienced person to help (Roderich had only been Jack for 3 years. He was 21). Ivan was watching his mother's final moments and there was nothing he could do about it as she suffocated in clean air.

* * *

AN: Irunya was Kievan Rus, in case you were curious. I know our star Elizabeta wasn't in this one but oh well. There's a couple more like this until they meet (this is gonna be long) but not next. **northwest territories, you have as much awesomness as Prussia and Gilbird combined!** Review and tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

_Elizabeta was running through the Toxic Forest, being chased by... something. It was supposed to be a Joker, humans mutated to possess magical powers and live in the Center, but something went wrong and now it's gone mad; killing everything and leaving destruction it its wake._

_people are yelling things in a language that she doesn't understand as the beast runs rampant. They're trying to contain it, to keep it from doing more damage than it already has._

But nothing is working.

_Elizabeta realizes she's actually watching the commotion from a tree and there's a man next to her, witnessing the struggle. The man doesn't seem to notice her so she tries to call out. When she does, it's in a voice that isn't hers and a language she doesn't know. The voice is soft and sweet, melodic though she's frantic. "What's going on?" she asks the man in the strange language. The man just turns his head and looks at her with hard blue eyes as if deciding whether he should tell her anything._

_Finally he gives Elizabeta a folded piece of paper and jumps out of the tree. Elizabeta quickly unfolds the paper and looks at it. It's in the strange language. Elizabeta is so focused on figuring out the meaning of the paper that she doesn't notice the Mutant turn towards her hiding place. Doesn't notice it charging for her at top speed. Didn't notice until it's too late. She hears a snarling noise and snaps her head up to greet the human-shaped beast that has made its way to her tree and is now trying to climb up._

_When it can't, it sprouts two extra arms to accompany the extra legs it grew on its way to the tree. It manages to make it to the branch where Elizabeta is staring disgustedly by changing shape repeatedly throughout the climb. It now had a long muscular tail and claws that looked like a tiger's. Elizabeta frantically backed away until she reached the edge of the branch. The men from down below were pointing and watching and yelling as two took out a strange blade Elizabeta had never seen before. The men with the blade pulled a string and it roared to life, covering up the beast's snarl with its unnatural humming. The men then pressed it to the tree and it quickly ate up the wood like there was nothing._

_Elizabeta would have been amazed if it wasn't for the fact that the Mutant was gaining on her, treading carefully because of its heavy weight and unstable state. Elizabeta took out the frying pan she'd had clenched in her hand without noticing and waits for the Mutant to come within smacking distance. She could knock it down and let the men withe their tree-eater take care of it. The hardest part was waiting for the right moment. If she swung too early, she'd lose her balance and fall herself. If she waited too long, Elizabeta didn't even want to know what would happen. Time went in slow motion and Elizabeta could see every jerky movement the drooling creature made as it scrambled towards her. _

_Just when Elizabeta was about to swing, the tree lurched from the demolition of its base. The sudden movement brought panic to the Mutant and it pounced at Elizabeta. When it did this Elizabeta got a good look at its eyes and saw the fear in them. The inability to control what was happening and the desire to stabilize itself. The eyes were completely human._

_And as its over sized mouth sunk into Elizabeta's skull she realized the meaning of the note. It was an apology. _

* * *

Elizabeta woke up panting and dripping with sweat. Morning light streamed through the curtained windows bringing to light the dust motes that swarmed the small room. The assuring weight of Eva on the other side of the bed brought Elizabeta's sleepy mind out of the strange dream. She sat up and ran a hand over her head to make sure it was still intact. Satisfied that she was still alive and in possession of her brain, Elizabeta swung her feet off the side and stood up.

After taking a couple of steps, Elizabeta realized there was something in her hand and upon closer inspection she realized it was the note from her dream, the one in a foreign language. With the knowledge of its meaning in mind, Elizabeta tried rereading the note, to make sense of the odd characters. But her "ability" from the dream had left her and she was unable to get past the first symbol. Elizabeta walked over to her night stand, the only thing of hers that wasn't community property in the house. Inside was where she kept all the things she didn't want Eva and Lars to see, mostly recovered for the Love of War or when she would sneak into the Toxic Forest: a porcelain doll with its painted face partially burned found in the Toxic Forest (clothes surprisingly unscathed). An old wooden sword she and Gilbert would spar with out in the Toxic Forest (he took the other one with him when he left). A browned, water damaged book written in the same language as the note. An oddly shaped charm on a rusty chain, and other miscellaneous items.

Eva had sat up and crawled over to the edge of the bed Elizabeta was sitting on and she was looking at the things stowed away in the night stand as she pulled them out and admired them. "Whoa, where did you get all this stuff? It all looks real old like it was made..." she paused so long Elizabeta started to think she wasn't going to finish her sentence when Bella looked at her with round eyes. "Before the Great War. This was made before the war, wasn't it? You found all of it and brought it back. You did, didn't you?"

Elizabeta couldn't answer, unable to believe the secret she had been keeping for years had been uncovered so quickly. Silence was all Eva needed to hear. "How long have you been collecting these things? How many do you have? We need to get rid of them quickly."

"Why?" Elizabeta asked. "I've had them for years and nobody ever found out. Nothing's ever been Contaminated and turned people into Mutants." Images of the creature from the night before. Elizabeta could understand why the Face Cards had tried so hard to prevent Mutants if that's what they were.

"If these are found, we'll all be killed! Going into the Toxic Forest is a crime itself, not to mention collecting things from beyond the Barrier. Just because nothing has been doesn't mean nothing will be. We need to destroy these without letting their fumes get out in the air." Elizabeta needed to come up with an argument and fast, or else Eva and Lars would never let her go into the Toxic Forest again and make her quit Barrier Control so she can become a full-time woman.

"I don't think the world outside the Barrier is Contaminated anymore." Elizabeta said quietly. "If it was, I would be. If it was, all this stuff that was there during the Great War would be. I think the Contamination wore off after all this time." Eva wouldn't take that.

"Are you insane? Of course it's till Contaminated! Why else would we not be allowed to go past the Barrier? Why would they even still have the Barrier? It's to keep the Contamination and the Mutants out."

"Maybe the Barrier's there to keep us in. Keep us in place so we don't actually know what's out there. As far as I know, the Face Cards could have been lying and the Contamination was never infectious in the first place!" Elizabeta was yelling now, her face red. She was only silenced when Eva clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Shut up! Talk like that could get you killed. And if Lars finds out about this we'll both be dead." Eva eyed the bejeweled charm at the end of the chain still in Elizabeta's hand. "If you can prove to me the world outside the Barrier isn't Contaminated, I'll let you keep this stuff and Lars won't find out from me." Sometimes Elizabeta swore Bella should have been a Diamonds. "Now hurry up or we're gonna be late." Eva said, throwing a shirt in Elizabeta's face.

The rest of the day continued like it normally did except whenever Elizabeta went into her room that night after dinner she found Eva examining the items in her night stand. So much for personal property. "When are you going to prove to me I'm not going to turn into a Mutant?" Eva asked without looking up from the doll she was admiring _and pricing._Elizabeta thought to herself. Eva had thought on the idea and decided to believe the Toxic Forest was no longer contaminated. The trip was strictly adventure.

"Tonight, it you're up for it." Elizabeta answered going over to stand next to Eva. The wooden sword had been hidden between school and Barrier Patrol so Eva wouldn't see it. That was one thing about herself Elizabeta didn't want other people knowing. As an answer Eva stood up and grabbed her work boots she uses when working at the publicly owned farms (everybody trades or works for Barrier Patrol in this village) and pulled them over her khaki pants. Guess she was planning on going anyways. Eva was always up for an adventure.

After they were sure Lars was asleep, they snuck out the window of their room because the hall floor squeaked. It was really cold outside, the dark clouds overhead blotting out the moon and threatening to snow. The two couldn't bring a lantern because it would be obvious a hundred miles away in the dark. The idea was pretty much to go into the Toxic Forest and when they didn't spontaneously Mutate, to touch some things and maybe pick something up. Exploration would be saved for daytime.

Once the two passed the Barrier and crossed the tree line, they just stood there, taking in the smells and sounds of the Toxic Forest. Eva was absorbing the fact that she wasn't dead while Elizabeta was remembering the last time she went into the Toxic Forest with anybody. It was the morning of Gilbert's departure for Hearts and they went into the Toxic Forest to retrieve the yellow bird Gilbert had found injured and insisted the take care of instead of killing it. Its name was Gilbird and even after its wing had healed it still greeted Elizabeta and Gilbert every time they came into the forest and it liked to rest on Gilbert's head. Gilbert had assured Elizabeta he and Gilbird could keep their visits to the Toxic Forest a secret in Hearts and the two had just sat sadly together, Elizabeta softly stroking Gilbird's downy feathers. Then, right before they crossed the tree line into town, Gilbert grabbed Elizabeta's hands, leaned forward, and kissed her. When he pulled away and saw the question forming on her face, he grabbed Gilbird, stuffed him in his bag ignoring the bird's protests, said "Because I'm awesome and you are too," and ran off Kesesese-ing. That was the last time Elizabeta ever saw Gilbert, too.

Eva was touching the trees carefully and paying attention for any signs of change to her body, though she was staying completely normal. It was almost a disappointment. "Are you convinced the Toxic Forest's not Contaminated yet?" Elizabeta asked, snapping Eva out of her concentration on herself.

"Yeah...let's just get back. I'm starting to get really cold. We'll go some day when it's warmer, okay?" they started walking back the direction the light of the small village was coming from. Lars had slept through the whole adventure and the two went to bed feeling satisfied.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I think I got a little OOC there but I'm not sure. And if it was a little confusing, it was kinda supposed to be. but only kinda. How about you review and tell me? I just realized I forgot this! I do not own Hetalia, and I never will. I've come to terms with it...


	4. Chapter 4

King Ivan had a problem.

He needed to figure out exactly how he was to go about trying to find a Queen of Clubs. Soon the other Kingdoms would discover Clubs was Queen-less and since a King can't function without his Queen, that bastard King of Spades Alfred would take advantage of this position. If he approached the Ace, Toris, standing in for Queen, he would just say to let Princess Natalia become Queen since he always seemed to side with her. Still listening to his mother's last wish he wasn't going to let her or Princess Katyusha become Queen. He was going to hand pick them himself.

On this note, Ivan still had no idea what he was going to do about it. So he went to ask the Jack of Clubs, Roderich.

"So you are going to listen to the Queen and ignore your readily available resources to find this 'diamond in the rough' Queen?" Roderich asked taking a seat at one of the pianos he insisted on having in every room of the castle. It, like everything else in the palace of Clubs, was varying shades of green.

"Da, I need help with how." Ivan answered sitting so he faced Roderich.

"The easiest and most cost effective way would be to have everybody at the age of eighteen come to the castle for you to pick from, but there would be a lot who wouldn't come and you're wanting to have every choice available, right?" Ivan nodded. "The most effective way would be to visit every village and decide after meeting each person of appropriate age. That would take ages and we don't have the time.

"The last thing I can think of is to have all eighteen-year-olds come to a regional meeting to decide. You won't be able to talk with them and not everybody will be able to show up but that way you will be able to save time and money. Shall I start getting the conference in the Capital ready?" Roderich obviously wasn't going to have time to play the piano for a while.

Ivan had stood up, the smile on his face broader than usual, and Roderich couldn't help but take a step back from his King's monstrous height. "That is a great idea! Da, have Toris spread information about it and prepare a building fit for our purposes. I will compose a list of what I think I will be looking for though the way Mother said it, I should know when I see them." Ivan was now bustling about getting together papers and a pen to make his list. He then abruptly left the room for his own leaving Roderich sitting dazedly and wondering what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

The first several meetings had failed. Not only had the King not found a suitable Queen but working as both Queen and Ace plus all the traveling had worn Toris out. There was no way he could keep up for the entire country. After inspecting the only two actual cities, as Clubs was a large, sparsely populated Kingdom, the rest wold take longer to go through. They decided they were going to start in the farthest eastern reaches of the Kingdom and work their way west. They traveled by carriage and sent a messenger ahead on horse to deliver the news that the King of Clubs would be arriving.

Once they crossed the mountains and set up in the closest thing to a city they could find, Sestra, it was all waiting for people to arrive. Those who lived in the city or near it came early and had a chance to talk with Ivan and Roderich. Toris was mainly resting.

* * *

"Come on! You have to go! There's no way you can pass this up. You could be Queen!" That night at dinner Eva was ecstatic with the news of the King's searching. He would be coming to their area next! Elizabeta, on the other hand, was not very interested in the whole ordeal. They were supposed to be mourning the Queen's death, not celebrating it.

"I told you, I'm not going. Even if I did, there's no way I would get picked. Plus, who's going to take care of everything while we're gone?" There was no way she was going to embarrass herself in front of the King of Clubs, no sir.

"We'll just have Grandma Berry look after our plants." Eva argued. Grandma Berry was sweet if she had something to gain from it. Other than that she was a cranky old lady Elizabeta and Eva swore was related to Lars. She grew marijuana inside her house and was in good business with him. People called her Berry because she wouldn't give her real name to anybody and she always smelled sickeningly sweet. "If we pay her enough, she might clean the house, too. You can use all those sick days you've been saving up. They're only three days away." Eva was not going to let her make excuses to get out of this.

"Okay, fine. I'm still not going. It'd be a waste of money, so good luck getting Lars to agree with you."

"I think you should go. We have been saving money for something like this. Even if you don't get selected, we can give a good impression throughout town. I know enough people in Sestra that the trip wouldn't be that expensive. There'll be a lot of nobility there and I can make that work in my favor." Both Eva and Elizabeta had forgotten Lars was there because he was being so quiet. Both had kinda expected him to outright refuse the proposal so it took a little for his words to sink in.

"Wait...what?" Eva asked her brother. He never agreed with her. Ever.

"You heard me. But I don't want Grandma Berry in the house." He stood and started gathering dishes signaling dinner and the conversation were over. "It's up to Elizabeta, though." he added as an afterthought.

Eva looked like he'd said she could have a puppy. This made Elizabeta reconsider her answer. Lars almost always knew what he was talking about. "Well...I could go and see the town. You've said how amazing it is and it might be nice to take a few days off..." Elizabeta hesitantly gave in. Lars and Eva were from Sestra (according to Lars) and Lars had talked about it before. Eva couldn't remember anything from it (according to Eva) because she was too young when they moved out to the country and traveled around until they came across Elizabeta's unnamed village. Only the places with larger populations got an Official Name. Sestra wasn't even the town's Official Name, that's just what it was called after the Great War and the name stuck.

"Yaay! Thank you!" Eva was hugging Lars who was trying to wash the dishes (something nobody else was allowed to do because they "probably wouldn't do it right".) "It's gonna be so fun and you'll look so pretty up there with the King! We can buy city-made stuff from artisans, and we can take a bath in a public house like I heard they do, and we can try on all the clothes in the stores"

Lars, prying Eva from around his waist, said "Artisan-made goods are too expensive, they only have public bath houses in Hearts, and we're going there for a reason, not to just waste time and money making a mess in useless stores. Go on and start packing. I'll finish cleaning, inform Barrier Patrol of our absence, and make travel arrangements." Eva pouted a little and went off, followed by a nervous-looking Elizabeta.

Once they were in their room, Eva threw herself into the closet and started dumping all their clothes onto the shared bed. "What will we wear? You need to look so beautiful the King will instantly fall in love with you. I heard they like traditional outfits, but I've never even seen them so I don't know what they wear." Eva just kept rambling on while Elizabeta was trying to fish their suitcases out from underneath the bed with Eva scrambling around on top of it.

Once she had wrenched the boxes out, Elizabeta joined Eva, who was frantically picking through fabrics looking for something that didn't look "too poor," on the bed. Elizabeta sat on her edge and opened the night stand and started taking her favorite items out of it. She would hide them in the Toxic Forest where nobody would ever find them. After putting them in an extra suitcase, she shoved it back under the bed and closed the night stand. Eva was still going through clothes and putting outfits together just to rip them apart and start the process over.

"That doesn't matter right now. We can just take everything nice and see what the people of Sestra are wearing and we can go from that." Elizabeta grabbed a shirt of hers and started folding it.

"That's a great idea! Since I don't remember the town I have no idea what they wear." Eva started placing clothes of her own into the suitcase Elizabeta had laid open beside her. "Maybe we should ask Lars though we probably shouldn't bother him right now because he's busy and he already let us go which was super nice." When Eva got excited, she had the tenancy to blabber.

After everything they could think to bring was packed, including foodstuffs and tools (Elizabeta's frying pan included), Eva and Elizabeta settled down to sleep. Lars had left sometime during their clothes gathering and hadn't returned yet. He went out at night all the time so Elizabeta and Eva weren't really worried about it.

It took a long time for Eva to sleep due to her excitement, but eventually it caught up with her and she was in a deep sleep. Elizabeta stood and pulled the box out from under the bed. There had been no sign of Lars so she had to be on the lookout for him. If he caught her creeping into the Toxic Forest, he might not let her go to Sestra and that would crush Eva. Elizabeta stuffed the box through the open window. It barely fit and sounded loud enough to wake the whole village though it couldn't reach Eva through the cloud of sleep.

Elizabeta crept through herself and carried the box across the small street and past the Barrier. She didn't stop until she was past the tree line and the box was weighing her down. Without looking to see if she'd been seen, Elizabeta hauled the suitcase back up and started carrying it deeper into the Toxic Forest without anywhere in particular in mind. As she continued on the familiar path, a perfect place came to mind.

Back before Gilbert moved, there was a place they'd gone almost daily. It was a clearing in the Toxic Forest where a large pond had grown from a crater caused by the Great War. There were wilted skeletons of trees sticking up from the water like rotting impalement spikes. The wate was dark and swirled around them in vortexes of purple and blue. It was the Boundary to another world. Entering the clearing was entering a land never explored, where faerie flew and temptresses sang; where gods lived on earth and humans weren't allowed.

The ring of trees around the pond was dead and collapsing to the poison of the other world. This is where anything and everything could still be Contaminated. Elizabeta approached a collapsed tree she had sat on many times at day with Gilbert. When she touched it with her hand, it caved in and her fingers slid through it into the crawling warmth of the disease inside it. She quickly jerked her hand away and looked at it. There was a mush slightly glowing orange stuck to her fingers and she looked around frantically for a place to wipe it on. All she saw was the dead forest and the pond,, its uneasy waters churning as though there was something serpentine swimming in it.

Eventually Elizabeta settled for wiping it on the hard roots of the fallen tree and looked inside the cavity on the bottom. It was completely empty for a ways until the top had caved in and filled the hole. Inside the tree was also glowing a faint orange where the disease was at work. Whenever Elizabeta and Gilbert were younger and they'd come here, they would touch the rotted life around the pond and nothing had ever happened. One time Gilbert had dared Elizabeta to eat some of it and when she was too scared of turning into a Mutant, they decided to eat it together. The taste wasn't as bad as they'd feared; it was sweet and earthy with the consistency of mud. Nothing had happened, not even a stomach ache. That was when they had discovered there was nothing to worry about in the Toxic Forest. The Boundary was only there for show. People could not get Contaminated.

Elizabeta shoved the box of antiques inside the tree and stomped on the open end until it caved in and buried the box in a slop barely recognizable as a tree. She wiped her foot on the ground to get any of the glowing substance left off and headed back for the village. They were leaving early the next morning on horseback and Elizabeta would need a good rest if she was going to stay awake the whole day.

Elizabeta made her way back and saw that the door had been locked, meaning Lars had returned. She hoped he hadn't noticed her absence. Eva was still deep in a sleep when she crawled back through the window. Elizabeta slipped into the warmed covers and tried to sleep, but excitement kept her from reaching this goal. What if the King actually did pick her as the next Queen of Clubs? She would live in the castle and spend her days being a proper woman with hundreds of people to tend to her every whim. It sounded boring. With that in mind, her mind finally rested after the stressful day.

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A/N: Is it just me or are these getting longer? I hope this wasn't too boring. I can't believe all the follows I got! Guess it wasn't too OOC. **Thank you BelayaRus25, cancer216, TarrelYoukai, AzamiBlosssom, and northwest territories for following my story and this chapter is for you! Special thanks for northwest territories, cancer216, and Kitsune's Lie (my sempai!) for the reviews and advice. I'll do my best!** I do not own Hetalia or Cardverse. Just the story and the Contamination.


	5. Chapter 5

The journey to Sestra was pretty much uneventful. There was a lot of mountains and gawking and there were several times Elizabeta thought Eva was going to explode from excitement. They traveled along the Barrier because most thought getting withing 10 meters of it would instantaneously kill you so the roads along it were devoid of life. Every village the three passed through was buzzing with excitement about the King of Club's arrival. The motels were discounted and food was on sale. It was a very cheap journey indeed.

Sestra was more busy than the villages along the way could even dream of being. Motels and goods were dirt cheap and every resident was bustling about trying to make money from the visitors. The sight scared Elizabeta. Humanity at its finest was not a pretty sight. Eva was happy to see all the people swarming and Lars seemed right at home in all the hubbub.

"Why have we not returned to the city sooner?" Eva asked her brother as they price shopped through Sestra trying to find the best priced motel with a vacancy. Not an easy task. Out here there was no monitoring the children born and so there was more than 18-year-olds. There were kids as young as 16 and as old as 23 pretending to be the right age in hopes of being chosen as Queen of Clubs.

The three found a motel and changed their clothes. Lars gave Eva and Elizabeta a limited amount of money and they agreed to meet back at the room before dark. The assembly where the King decided the Queen if there was going to be one was scheduled for three days so Elizabeta had to be careful with her money.

Lars had said to keep money somewhere other than pockets and to look out for sticky fingers. They would be everywhere with this many poor people clustered into one area. Elizabeta followed this advice as she made her way through the crowded streets, peeking into crammed stores when she got the chance. She was looking for one that wasn't chock full and with this mentality she turned onto a dark alley that seemed lonely and devoid of life after the streets.

There she saw a doorway with brightly beaded curtains and she entered to the sharp smell of spices blended with a sweet scent she recognized from Lars. The entire room was painted in bright shades of orange with a technicolor rug. It was a relief from the greens of the clothing from the street.

There was an old woman seated cross-legged on the floor looking awfully out of place in her dark clothes and hair. When Elizabeta entered she smiled revealing several missing teeth. "Look around at my goods. I am sure you will find exactly what you're looking for." Was Elizabeta supposed to be looking for something?

Among the miscellaneous knickknacks and magic...stuff there were strange angular items with small ports that produced light and long flat black sides. There were circles with odd designs that could be pressed into them and when Elizabeta did so on one, the front started glowing brightly and showed a picture of some leaves with rain on them. Elizabeta dropped the flat screen onto its shelf and jumped back. The woman had walked up behind Elizabeta and Elizabeta bumped into her in her panic. "M-miss! That...thing started glowing and it's all warm!" Elizabeta had grabbed a hold of her thin arms and was blubbering.

"No need to fret, child. That is a device of the Jokers." as if that explained everything. Elizabeta had calmed down from her initial panic and realized it must just be witchcraft if it was the Jokers'.

"But why is it glowing? What's the point of it?" Elizabeta asked her. How could something that fragile-looking be of use to anybody?

"Ah, that is something my son and I have yet to figure out. It makes and excellent decoration and you put it in the sun if it stops glowing. It's not cheap, thought. The Jokers don't give out their property, well, ever. If you don't find this one of interest, there are several more items from the Jokers throughout my store. Call to me if one catches your eye," with that, the woman turned and walked slowly to her old spot.

Elizabeta continued her search, avoiding anything else that might have been stolen from the Jokers. She made it over to a back corner where flowers were lined up on a shelf, but when she picked one up, it was made of some strange cloth and had a clip on the bottom. Elizabeta picked out her favorite one, a pink one of two small flowers that faded out to white on the inside and looked absolutely real. Like the kind she had seen in gardens sometimes during summer.

Elizabeta took the flower-clip to the old woman seated on her mat and asked her what it was for. The woman said it was an item female Jokers wore in their hair as a style and it would look absolutely beautiful on her luxurious brown hair. It would cost about two thirds of Elizabeta's spending money even with the discount for it looking so at home on her.

Sometime while Elizabeta and the old woman were haggling, a young man walked in looking like he thought he owned the place and had enough money to. He looked around distractedly as he waited for the old woman to finish with Elizabeta.

With the price decided and paid, Elizabeta got out of the man's way to try to put the flower-clip into her hair. He walked to the woman and they started speaking in low voices while Elizabeta struggled with the clip. She couldn't figure out which way it went. After their talk, the woman looked extremely excited and the man switched his attention to the now embarrassed Elizabeta. He walked over to her and put his hands over her smaller ones. He carefully guided her hands to the correct position and showed her how to put the flower in her hair.

He pulled away and admired his work. Besides her hair being slightly ruffled from her earlier attempts, she looked absolutely beautiful. Elizabeta looked at the man who had helped her. He had brown hair with a restless strand that stuck out in an odd cowlick from his forehead. Thin glasses covered ambitious purple eyes that reminded her of Gilbert's and there was a mole on the side of his chin. It looked strangely familiar. His clothes said somebody of ridiculous wealth who had tried to dress like the commoners. "There. Now the flower's almost as beautiful as you." Elizabeta uttered a thank you, completely uncomfortable around somebody of such high standing. "Not a problem at all. Your hair was very soft. Are you in town for the King's decision?"

"Err, thanks and yeah, I am." Elizabeta wasn't really sure how to act around somebody of such nobility. Especially one who was complementing her like he meant it.

"Allow me to escort you to King Ivan's presence then. He's meeting with select few before the assembly and I think you would have a high chance of his approval. I know you've already received mine." he offered holding out his hand for Elizabeta to take.

"Pardon me for asking but who are you?" Elizabeta tried her hand at being polite.

"Of course, forgive me. I am the Jack of Clubs, Roderich Edelstein." Elizabeta remembered where she'd seen his face before: on posters hung up in the courthouse of their village a hundred years ago announcing the new Jack of Clubs. Would her poster be hung up in the courthouse beside his?

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A/N: So I guess the last one was boring? Then this one probably is too... tell me what you think! Every opinion is valued and helpful! I do not own Hetalia.


	6. Chapter 6

"Then be my guest. I am Elizabeta Hedervary." Elizabeta took his still-offered hand and allowed him to lead her outside. She had to be as ladylike as possible if she wanted the King to even consider her as able to be Queen. When they made it outside, Elizabeta realized it'd started to get dark and if she wanted to make it back to the motel before nightfall she couldn't go with Roderich. "On second thought, though I'd love to meet the King, I have to return to my motel before dark so I won't have the time. My sincerest apologies." Elizabeta was getting the hand of talking fancy.

Roderich failed at hiding his look of disgust. "Please, we wouldn't want somebody of your beauty staying at a grimy motel in this backwater town. Allow me to invite you to stay the night with my party, in the mansion of the mayor of Sestra. I feel you'll find these quarters much more to your liking." Elizabeta didn't point out that the "grimy motel" was better than her own house.

"What about Eva and Lars? Eva will be worried and Lars would be pissed if I didn't show up to the motel on time." Elizabeta had started walking back to the motel with Roderich trying to keep up with her hurried pace.

"We can prepare rooms for those with you as well. You are very likely to be picked with my recommendation so we only want the most comfort for you and your family." at that Elizabeta froze where she was, causing Roderich to bump into her. "Did I way something wrong?" Roderich asked.

"I'm likely to be picked? As Queen of Clubs?" Elizabeta turned to Roderich with her eyes wide as the disgruntled green river parted for the sitting stones.

Well, yes. You give the impression of being strong and appear to be more intelligent than the entire region combined." A slightly disgusted look from Roderich. "Not to mention being beautiful beyond compare. Those are all things we look for in a Queen. I also find your personality quite charming and I think King Ivan will as well. We really must be on our way if we're going to make it to the mansion before dinner." he walked around the still frozen Elizabeta and continued on his way even though he didn't know where the motel was.

Elizabeta stood watching him through the crowd until he turned the wrong way down the next intersection. "Wait! You're going the wrong way!" Elizabeta ran to catch up with him. It was hard to identify his regal form through the identically colored clothes. Each person was showing respect for the King of Clubs by wearing the national color. Elizabeta tore through the crowd, grabbing onto random brunette men's arms and forcibly turning them around to see their faces. Roderich heard her calling out to hem and turned around right as she plunged into him, knocking them both to the ground and taking a couple other people with them. Several cursed, a young kid walked over them both, and a man shouted "Get a room!" The rest of the thinning stream just avoided them on the emptying streets.

"You...were going...the wrong...way!" Elizabeta said through her frantic breaths. They were so going to be late now and Lars was going to kill her!

"Apologies, I guess I don't know my way around as well as I thought I did. Would you please let go of my arm so I can get off of this disgusting street? Who knows what's on here?" Roderich struggled out of Elizabeta's tight grasp on his arm.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Elizabeta released her grip and stood up with Roderich. "We better run the rest of the way to the motel if we're going to make it to the mansion and not get arrested by security guards. We can just skip dinner tonight." Elizabeta grabbed Roderich's hand and started to run, practically dragging him behind her. They made it halfway there before Roderich finally had to stop. He was doubled over panting with his hands on his knees. "Don't get around much, do you?" Elizabeta asked with a smirk on her face. She could outrun half the boys and all the girls in her class, but she'd never beat somebody of higher standing than her. It was a personal success.

"Not particularly...I have...chores...at the castle." Roderich panted.

"Well, I'm going to go on ahead. All you gotta do is turn right at the next available turn and go straight a ways until you see me. Think you can handle that, Jack?" Elizabeta gave him one last gloating smile and turned on her heel and started off down the street in full sprint now that the streets were virtually deserted and she didn't have Roderich weighing her down with his slow speed. She slowed to a walk when she made it to the motel and tried to fix the flower in her windblown hair. Didn't do much good.

She walked up to the door of her room with as much confidence as she could muster and knocked on it twice. She stepped back and waited for the answer. Lars opened it smoking God-knows-what in his pipe, took one look at her face, said, "You're late." and closed the door again. Then he locked it.

"Oh come on! That's just cruel! Let me in!" Elizabeta banged her fist on the door to no avail. "It's fucking cold out here and there could be rapists looking for future Queens!" still nothing. Maybe he didn't catch the part about her becoming Queen. "I'm late because I met Roderich Edelstein. You know, Jack of Clubs? He said he was going to let us stay in the mayor's mansion. For free."

At that Lars opened the door a crack and peeked out. "I don't see any Jacks." and then he closed it again before Elizabeta could pry her fingers into the hole.

"There! See? He's coming right now!" Elizabeta was pointing at Roderich coming even though Lars couldn't see. "Just open the door again for one second!" Elizabeta was posed to catch the door at the first moment available.

Roderich had made it to Elizabeta's side and he stood there for a second before asking who the person behind the door's name was. Elizabeta told him and he said, "Lars, I command you to open the door this instant and allow Elizabeta to enter her room." the door swung open to reveal a wide-eyed Lars and Eva. Elizabeta really had found the Jack of Clubs.

"Er...excuse me your highness. Please come in." Lars stepped back and held the door for Roderich who entered in a flourish of royal annoyance. Elizabeta shrugged and walked in behind him. Eva was fawning over Roderich asking him if there was anything he wanted while trying to make herself presentable and hiding a bag of...questionable substances belonging to Lars.

Roderich sat down on the only chair in the cheap motel room and declined Eva's offers of refreshments. When she stilled he said, "As I already explained to Elizabeta, I feel she would have a high chance of becoming Queen of Clubs with my recommendation, which I am more than willing to give. You can spend the rest of your nights here in the mansion with me and the rest of the royalty, all expenses paid, of course. I feel Elizabeta would make a great Queen and am willing to go to great lengths to secure her a spot in the courts. If you approve of this we must be going if we want to make it to the mansion at a reasonable hour." Roderich looked at the siblings with a sharp eye. Eva looked like she was going to faint and Lars looked suspicious but agreeable. "Come, Elizabeta. We must get going whether these two are coming or not."

Did you say that Elizabeta was going to be Queen?!" Eva asked, finally able to speak after her original shock. She still looked like moving would be too much for her mind to comprehend.

"Well, I said it's very likely. Almost positively a spot in the aristocracy. Why is everybody so surprised about this?" Roderich, having been born destined to be Jack of Clubs, could not understand everybody's awe over a high title.

"If the stay at the mansion is completely paid for, I guess there's no way we can refuse. Eva. Elizabeta. Go get our stuff. Roderich, come help me discuss a refund with the motel manager since we paid for all three days. Meet me in the stables when you're done."

"Yes sir!"" Eva saluted and marched to the back of the room where suitcases had been thrown with Elizabeta close behind. Lars grabbed Roderich's hand and pulled him outside.

"How rude! Who knows where your hand as been?! Roderich exclaimed once they were outside while he wiped his hand on his long coat. "I'll pay back all the money you lose. I really don't want to cause any trouble and Elizabeta's made it obvious I still look like myself, though I tried to wear peasant clothes. It's all just so itchy and loose! I don't know how you can stand wearing something not tailored to your body."

"You don't have to help. I just figured I would let the girls have their time, and avoid Eva's sure explosion. She's dreamed of living in a castle as long as I can remember." Lars started walking to the check-in building leaving Roderich alone in the quickly fading light. The motel was in the inner circle of Sestra, much closer to the mansion than Roderich originally thought. They might actually be able to make it before dinner, as it would most likely be late since the King and Ace were being thrown left and right by the few eligible people of higher standing than the vast majority of the region. Aka those with any connections in the Capital.

Roderich turned to go back into the motel room with his beautiful Elizabeta (yes, he's started thinking of her like that) when he heard a high-pitched squeal come from it. He was about to run in and see what happened when he heard Eva's voice yelling out "I can't believe you're going to be Queen! It's going to be the best thing ever! We'll be able to live in castles and have people do our laundry and meet foreign boys and-" Elizabeta put her hand over Eva's mouth and said she could wake up the whole city if she kept going on like that. This made it clear what Lars meant when he was talking about Eva exploding and Roderich quickly made his way to the building Lars entered.

**A/N: Hello, still there? Feedback is really appreciated! Also, if anything's inconsistent with what I had previously, I'm sorry. The new stuff is what I'll to be going off of. I do not own Hetalia.**


	7. Chapter 7

After everything had been packed and the seating on the two horses decided (Lars and Eva on one, Elizabeta and Roderich on the other with Elizabeta at the reigns) they started on their way to the mansion. Several wrong turns later, because Roderich's directions were less than accurate, they arrived at the mansion and were warmly greeted by guards and bag boys. Their horses were brought to the stables and servants showed them each to their own individual rooms. They were to get washed and dressed from the wardrobes in the rooms. Dinner was going to start in one hour.

Elizabeta shooed away all the servants so she could wash herself and climbed into the filled tub. It was the first time she'd had a bath in warm, bubbly water so she didn't know if she'd be done in time for dinner (it was too nice.) Elizabeta was debating getting out of the tub (she was as clean and wrinkly as she'd ever been) when there was a knock at the door. "Yes? Don't come in." Elizabeta climbed out of the tub and started drying her body with one of the pale green towels laid out for after her bath.

"I have laid out your clothing for the meal on your bed, Miss Hedervary. Call me when you're decent and I'll help with your corset." a woman's voice said. Elizabeta listened until she heard the door open and shut. Wait...corset? Elizabeta threw the mint green nightgown over her toweled head and ran out of the bathroom. Sure enough, a whalebone corset lay on the bed looking deadly and painful.

Elizabeta slowly got her undergarments on and when she couldn't figure out how to put the dress on, she reluctantly tapped on the door. It swung open to reveal two identical women in identical uniforms. They looked so similar that Elizabeta had to blink a couple times before she could comprehend they were two different people.

"Are you ready for your dressing?" they asked in unison and Elizabeta found that so creepy all she could do was nod as they each grabbed one of her arms and dragged her back through the room to the mountain of green she was supposed to be wearing. Several lost breaths and pulled hairs later, Elizabeta was placed in front of a vanity so the twins could fix her face up. They appeared to be considering their options before they settled on just putting something over her eyelashes and painting her lips.

"Her face is beautiful just the way it is." the one on Elizabeta's left said turning to the one on Elizabeta's right.

"Indeed it is. Allow us to escort you to the dining room." Elizabeta agreed and they were on their slow way. Elizabeta could barely breathe, not to mention moving. The shoes weren't helping the situation, either. The twins kept assuring her that it got easier as you got used to it, but Elizabeta was too busy wondering how she was going to eat without puking all over everybody to care. If she did that, the likelihood of her becoming Queen was slim to none.

"We have arrived. Please allow us to make any last-minute adjustments to your appearance." They said before pulling on this and adjusting that without letting Elizabeta get a word in. When they were satisfied, they pushed the double doors open to a cool green dining room. There was a large moss-colored table sitting on the yellow-green and green tiled floor. Around the table were important-looking people in varying shades of the country's color.

At the head of the table sat the King with Roderich at his right and Lars to his left. Lars was looking very uncomfortable in a green suit with yellow Clubs on it.

The other end of the table was empty but the Ace sat at the right side of it. Eva sat to the left and when Elizabeta entered she smiled and gave a small wave. Eva looked at home among the people of higher class in her silk forest dress that went a little too low for Elizabeta's liking. It was built for somebody of a larger build.

A butler put his hand on the small of Elizabeta's back and ushered her to the end of the table. He pulled a chair out for her and she confusedly sat down. She wasn't Queen yet so why was she getting all this special attention?

The butler who had shown Elizabeta to her chair stood behind the King's left shoulder and Elizabeta realized with a start he was the King's personal assistant. Hundreds of social classes above where she had ever hoped to be. And he'd just served her.

The King of Clubs stood and tapped his spoon on his wine glass twice, calling the mumbled conversations to an end. "I'd like to make a toast to the future Queen of Clubs, Elizabeta Hedervary. May she ruled wisely and with an iron fist like my mother did!" He took a gulp and gave Elizabeta a smile that chilled her to the bones. "Now, let's hear a speech from the future Queen, da?" everybody raised their glasses and took a drink.

Elizabeta hoped they had replaced Eva's with something more suited to her small body. It wasn't that they didn't drink at their home, Elizabeta was actually pretty good at it, but the last thing she wanted was Eva getting drunk in front of these of all people. Elizabeta gave Eva a look that said just that as she stood and Eva nodded slightly to show she understood.

Elizabeta cleared her throat and began her unplanned speech. She'd never realized in her overcrowded mind that she'd have to _prove_ her ability of being Queen to the King. "Thank you, King..." Elizabeta realized she didn't know the King's name. The Ace whispered the name under his breath and Elizabeta heard.

She cleared her throat and restarted her speech. "Thank you, King Ivan Braginski, for the toast and well, I guess you're wondering what I would do if I was Queen. Having grown up in a rural town, I know that not everybody supports the Face Cards." a sharp look from Ivan for that but Elizabeta pretended not to notice. At least he was listening wholeheartedly now. "And I also know why these people don't support them. They feel the Face Cards have forgotten them. That all the laws and customs are put into place for the higher classes instead of the majority: poor farmers.

"We need to show these skeptical people that this is not so, quite the opposite. That we value each person as equal. By this I mean we should properly educate the lower classes and allow them more say in laws and representation. Taxes could be reformed to give them a break and open markets to artisans with say, traveling markets like caravans for those who can't leave their farms." Elizabeta's eyes had lit up and a smile slowly spread across her face as she was imagining what her life would have been like if these things had been in play when she was younger. Gilbert's family might have even stayed in Clubs!

"This obviously won't happen overnight but if we make slight changes to satisfy those disgruntled for a while, we should be able to improve support of the Face Cards tenfold. The people are what make up a kingdom so if the people are all united, the kingdom is too. A united kingdom is the strongest kind there is. That is what I hope I'd be able to accomplish as Queen of Clubs. Now I would like a toast to the longevity of Clubs as a united kingdom under the Face Cards!" Elizabeta raised her half-empty glass and drank the rest down. Others stood and followed suit, chorusing the toast.

Roderich smiled at Elizabeta as their meal was served and Elizabeta smiled back brightly. Whatever he had said really worked and she owed him. Big time. Next she turned to the Ace beside her and thanked him for telling her the King's name. "Not a problem at all and please call me Toris. Congratulations on becoming Queen. I am looking forward to serving you in the future." he then put a bite in his mouth signaling the conversation was over and he wanted to eat. Elizabeta looked over at Eva and saw her digging into her meal and forgetting to mind her manners. She looked around exasperatedly and noticed several of the higher classes were eating in the same manner. Eva had also requested water so she let it go. They were definitely going to get some lessons in etiquette later.

The rest of the meal went by in a confused heap of nervous emotions. Everybody was dismissed after dinner and Ivan didn't say anything to Elizabeta until everybody had cleared out and she was trying to help with the dishes. "I'm looking forward to talking with you tomorrow, da?" was all he said before exiting. All that he left was a bitter taste in her mouth and butterflies in her stomach.

Roderich showed her back to her room, something she hadn't realized she'd been wanting. "Oh, I really hope I didn't just blow my chances by talking about the lack of support for the Face Cards." Elizabeta groaned.

"No, not at all. You identified a problem, and suggested some solutions to solve it. Straightforwardness is something we look for in a Queen. If it helps any, I think your speech was marvelous. Please do try to sleep tonight, I really don't want you to be a nervous mess for Ivan tomorrow. Come to me or Toris if you need any help adjusting and watch out for Vladmir, Ivan's personal servant. Nothing escapes his eye. Though I believe you're already acquainted with his mother."

Elizabeta brought her hand up to her hair to think of who it might have been when her fingers brushed the flower that was still holding her hair back. She'd completely forgotten it was there in all the stress. The flower reminded her of the old woman in the shop who'd said something about having a son. And Roderich had said something that excited her before speaking with Elizabeta... "The old lady in the shop!" Elizabeta suddenly exclaimed.

"Correct. She'll be living in the castle with us when we leave Spirit of Pain." Us? They had reached Elizabeta's room (Though to Elizabeta it seemed a much more confusing route than when the maids took her.)  
"Well, I bid you goodnight. The servants you met previously will prepare you in the morning. I expect you'll find everything for sleeping properly?" Elizabeta nodded and Roderich left her to explore the room by herself.

There were more clothes than Elizabeta knew what to do with. She eventually gave up and put on the night shirt she'd brought with her. Luckily nobody had gone through her luggage; she might have been arrested right then and there. She washed her face and went to the oversized bed. She sank into the soft mattress and the down pillows muted all sound. But when she tried to sleep, she realized it was close to impossible with everything going on in her head and without the steady sound and heat of Eva sleeping next to her. When sleep finally did take her overworked mind, it was once again a tangle of memories that did not belong to Elizabeta in a place that no longer existed.

**A/N: Thank you for the review, PASTA300. I'm glad you're liking the story so far! More of those are always welcome! I don't own Hetalia or the characters associated with it.**


	8. Chapter 8

_The rain muted the sounds of the Northern troops as they marched to the war in the west. Elizabeta stood among the scores of people watching them go. Guards were yelling and pushing back relatives and family of the too-young soldiers. A gunshot rang and a struggling man fell to the ground. His body was left for the Contamination to eat._

_The Great War was well underway and all Elizabeta could ever remember with her new mind was living in a world of chaos and the fear of dying at any moment. People around her were talking in the same language as the last dream, and once again Elizabeta could understand what they were meaning without knowing what they were saying. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the note the man from the tree had given her and read it for probably the thousandth time. It was worn and crumbled, water damaged and had a large blood stain over some of the blurry letters. Another reminder she was supposed to be dead._

_The man next to her put a reassuring hand on Elizabeta's shoulder and she realized with muted surprise that the man was Roderich. He tugged her hand away from the depressing scene and they crossed the crowd into one of the many underground safe houses built for protection from the other three armies. They descended the stairs into the darkness of the house, for electricity had been cut off months ago (Elizabeta wondered what this thought meant) and candles and lanterns were now sparse._

_When the two reached the cold and overcrowded basement there was the sound of several people screaming and somebody thrashing about with others trying to restrain them. The emergency lanterns hung across the ceiling were lit and when the room came into bright clarity Elizabeta saw a hulking figure spattered in blood towering above the other people in the room._

_Immediately gunshots were fired at it but the man continued to move as if nothing had even touched him. He tore through the crowd pushing and throwing people in the too-full room. The entire body shuddered and he sprouted another, longer arm with a webbed paw that cleared anybody and anything from his path with ease. The thing looked directly at Elizabeta with red eyes. Gilbert's eyes._

_Elizabeta shouted "Joker!" and tore back up the stairs. She could hear the unstable, labored approach of the thing-no, Gilbert- climbing up after her. She reached the top and scrambled into the ranks of soldiers still marching to their death, frantically screaming "Joker! Gil's a Joker!" the whole time._

_The Mutant made it outside and it slipped around in the rain until it mutated into a more adapted form. It launched at the people and sprinted through the troops to catch up with Elizabeta. The continuous firing merely slowed the beast down as it mutated and changed to be more adept to running. Elizabeta swung a right into the mess of abandoned buildings that used to be a city. The Mutant would have trouble following her through the winding streets with the large form it was now in._

_Elizabeta scrambled through the unknown to get away. Though she couldn't hear the Mutant's pursuit anymore. The soldiers may have finally got themselves together and killed the mutant the only way Elizabeta knew of. Ejecting a stabilizer into its bloodstream. This slowly killed the Contamination, leaving only the exhausted skeleton of something that used to be human. The only other way was to wit until the Contamination exhausted every fiber of the body and could no longer use it. But the more a mutant ate, the more energy it had. This method could take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple months._

_Not that it mattered._

_The city was abandoned for a reason. As Mutants entered cities, the Contamination spread like wildfire. People were forced to flee disease and death. Eventually they (nobody knows who exactly "they" are) came up with the stabilizer and sent forces in and destroyed most of the Mutants. Most._

_Elizabeta stopped dead when she heard the unmistakable sniff of a Mutant scenting out something alive and stable. There was a skittering in the crumbling building next to Elizabeta and a rat ran out. Well, half a rat. Elizabeta decided the rat had the right idea and turned to leave before she ended up like it. She hadn't gone two steps when she fell flat on her face. Elizabeta pulled her left leg against her chest and tried to work out the charlie horse in her calf._

_It didn't go away as the mutant wriggled its huge body out of the smaller door way, much to the building's complaint. Elizabeta tried to scramble back as it slowly made its way toward her but the leg proved itself to be as good as useless. The mutants had the labored breaths of something that had been Contaminated for a while and was getting close to its limits. _

_The Mutant uncurled itself into a four-legged figure with crab-like arms and a long muscular tail that could collapse cars. It reached that tentacle of a tail and wrapped it around Elizabeta in a death grip. The jaw opened to ragged needle-sharp teeth and drool poured out in acidic puddles. Two purple eyes stared at Elizabeta in unrelenting hunger. Wait...purple eyes? Eyes of the King._

_As King Ivan, master and owner of the Kingdom of Clubs, ate Elizabeta; she decided she was going to topple the tower he'd created and build a new one on the ashes of his exhausted body. And she was going to rule_ _it._

**A/N: Okay, so here's Elizabeta's second dream. Thanks to D-chan-I-chan for following me. It's really appreciated! And so are reviews! I do not own Hetalia. Oh, by the way, I forgot to put this last chapter: Vlad is supposed to be Romania. I'm gonna try to put everybody except probably the micronations. And give them a part. One more thing before I end this long Author's Note. I need help deciding pairings. Since I'm using most characters and I'm not too picky in this sense (I don't do incest, though), I need some serious help. If you have one you want, just review and tell me. Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9

Elizabeta woke to the sound of a clock. When she noticed the clock was the only sound, Elizabeta rolled to the other side of the humongous bed and felt around frantically for Eva's sleeping form. Eva was nowhere to be found so Elizabeta tried to jump out and look for her. The already-tangled sheets wrapped themselves around her arms, securely strapping Elizabeta to the ocean of a bed. Some animalistic instinct with a fear of being tied up kicked in and Elizabeta thrashed in the layers of cloth, entangling herself even more in the spider's web.

After calming down, Elizabeta managed to get herself out of the mess and fall onto the ground beside the bed with a loud thud. She just lay there for a bit thinking with dull humor that the floor in this mansion was more comfortable than her bed back home. Or at what used to be home.

Elizabeta shot up and thundered into the walk-in closet with the re-realization that she _was_ going to be Queen. Queen of Clubs, Elizabeta Hedervary. Elizabeta looked through the many articles of clothes for something that looked wearable. Eventually she found a grass green dress with darker Clubs on the right side. The bottom was slightly ruffled ant there was a slit that went to halfway up her thigh. The sleeves were the length of a normal t-shirt's and they each had a club on them. Inside the dress was a long-sleeved black undershirt and black leggings among other things. Elizabeta skipped out on the other things and simply wore the shirt and leggings with a thin black sash around her waist. For shoes Elizabeta picked some plain green pumps.

She quickly washed her face and got dressed. Surprisingly comfortably (and unsteady), Elizabeta hobbled over to the vanity and brushed through her hair with one of the many utensils scattered about the surface. The flowers from yesterday went in her hair and, taking a chance, she dug through her bag for the necklace found outside the Boundary and slipped it on.

She returned to the vanity's mirror for one last examination when she noticed the necklace had a second charm. Beside the swirling patterns of the original one, there was a cross Elizabeta immediately recognized as the one Gilbert never took off. Elizabeta slipped this one off and hid it in one of the many inner pockets of her dress (there was like eight.) With this still in mind, Elizabeta returned to her old bag and put the note from her previous dream in the same pocket. Then, under a sudden urge, Elizabeta tucked her frying pan under the sash on the inside of the dress where it was easily accessible.

Geared up and finally ready to go, Elizabeta snuck out of her room into the deserted hall. Apparently people with money don't have to wake up early. She tried to follow the path she'd taken with the maids but that didn't work and before long Elizabeta found herself hopelessly lost. When she tried retracing her steps, she confused herself even more because the corridors all looked exactly the same.

Elizabeta gave up trying on her own and prepared herself for an angry aristocrat and turned to knock on the closest door. Right when she was swinging her fist for the first time the door swung open and her hand hit nothing but air. Elizabeta looked up and to her dismay she was staring directly into King Ivan's purple eyes. The ones that devoured her the night before. Ivan stared back for a second before asking, "Can I help you?" and slightly cocking his head to the side.

"A-as, um, yeah. Uh, could you show me to the uh, to the dining room? For breakfast, I mean." Elizabeta stuttered out and stepped back to let him through.

Ivan stared at Elizabeta for a few agonizing seconds and nodded once, his permanent smile never once leaving his face. "Da, follow me." He turned on heel and started marching the opposite direction at an alarming pace. Elizabeta struggled to keep up and found herself wondering how Roderich could ever walk with him. After many twists and turns they found themselves facing the door Elizabeta had entered the previous night. Ivan pushed through it without any hesitation and Elizabeta followed along, feeling like a lost puppy. They were greeted by the smells of pastries and bacon. Elizabeta stopped at the assault to her nose and looked for the source of the delicious scent.

Ivan turned around when he noticed Elizabeta was no longer behind him. She was looking around like a dog searching for prey. "Breakfast isn't ready yet. It'll be a good 30 minutes before anybody else wakes up. Let's go outside, it's a lovely morning, da?" Elizabeta nodded and began to follow Ivan again. He went through a smaller door opposite the one they had entered through and after a couple of turns they found themselves in a stairwell. Ivan jogged up the steps and Elizabeta did her best in the shoes. When she had trailed far below Ivan called down, "You can take them off until you get used to them." And started up again.

Elizabeta yanked the green murderesses from their death grip and charged up the stairs to catch up. When did he have to be so tall? The two exited through a door and entered a balcony overlooking Sestra. Cold wind bit into Elizabeta's skin and whipped her hair back. If Elizabeta hadn't grown up in that weather, she would have frozen. Ivan seemed to be enjoying the cloudy morning. "You seem to have a good understanding of your place in the kingdom, da?" Ivan suddenly asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I always tried to stay up to date on things." Elizabeta answered. This was probably the conversation Ivan was talking about last night.

"You know, I started out the same as you and learned the only way to take power is to out think those who have it. You seem capable of that." Ivan turned to Elizabeta and locked her eyes with his. She got the feeling that he was evaluating her soul, searching for any threat to his throne. Elizabeta though of her dream and how she decided she was going to steal it when he killed her. Elizabeta blinked.

"I see. You'll be more dangerous if I leave you unmonitored, da? The Jack seems completely smitten with you and I find that it's hard to win his favor. I guess you couldn't just die without him doing something about it..." What? "And if I didn't allow you to become Queen, you would be in a position to talk to the people. They would listen because you can relate to them, da?"

"Wait...what?" Elizabeta asked. She was going to die? What? Ivan seemed to have not heard.

"Then it's settled. You will become Queen of Clubs. I believe in your leadership skills and intelligence. Roderich definitely had a good eye, da?" Ivan walked up to the railing and put his hands on it. "I trust you will do nothing to endanger my position, da?" It was not a question but a command.

"You have nothing to worry about. As Queen of Clubs I only serve you, my King." Elizabeta gave her most reassuring smile.

Ivan turned around with his trademark smile back. "You and I both know that's not true." He glided past Elizabeta and exited the balcony. He had seen through Elizabeta so quickly it was scary. By "out think" he meant he saw through the disguises people wore and took advantage of that inner self.

Elizabeta let out a breath and collapsed against the wall with her knees sticking out of the slit in her skirt. At least she got the job. Okay, who was she kidding? Elizabeta jumped up and shouted to Sestra, "I'm Queen of Clubs! I'm fucking _QUEEN_ OF **CLUBS!**" Sure she was going to be watched, but that was only until she proved her loyalty.

After her victory dance, Elizabeta skipped down the staircase and slipped her shoes back on. Since she had been paying close attention, Elizabeta took the same route back to the dining room where breakfast was being served to the first few. Eva and Lars were among them and Elizabeta pulled them out to the courtyard to share the good news. Eva was, once again, excited beyond her own comprehension. Lars didn't seem surprised and even said he saw it coming.

After breakfast (the best Elizabeta'd ever had) Ivan announced they would be heading to the Capital the next morning with the new Queen of Clubs. Elizabeta spent the rest of the day being fawned over and congratulated while other people packed her bags with "reasonable clothing." Nobody expected anything about her having been outside of the Boundary, though she did get several compliments on all the antiques she had.

Elizabeta gave a speech to the people at Sestra, though most just pouted that they didn't get picked. Elizabeta's carriage was right behind Ivan's and right in front of Roderich's. She shared it with Lars and Eva. There was no need to make a trip back to their old home so they were on their way to the Capital. After the mountainous area Elizabeta was from, the land flattened out giving way to a dense fores on one side of the road and farmland on the other. The area was pretty much devoid of cities, though sometimes they would pass through a nameless village like the one Elizabeta was from and grubby children and adults would line up to gape at the rich people.

It was times like this that made Elizabeta feel homesick and out of place. She would have been one of those poor people trapped in a small village if it wasn't for the lucky stroke of meeting Roderich at that illegal store.

They crossed a large river-the Sila-and found themselves back in a mountainous area. These they went around until there was a large gap, where they entered into a bustling city of green. Roderich had told Elizabeta that the capital was built in a circle of mountains for natural defense. Elizabeta would be giving a speech-the same one given at Sestra-to this city (nicknamed Udacha) and after she was comfortable in the castle, they would go to the only two other cities in Clubs and give the same speech there. After talking at Zelenyy and Klever, they would visit the other Face Cards in one of the other Kingdoms. It was going to be a very busy next few weeks but Elizabeta was prepared. She could conquer anything now that she was Queen of Clubs.

**A/N: Okay, got a couple questions. But first, thanks to greyeyes1kittycat for your nice review, it made my whole week! Another thanks to PASTA300 for your continued support. Which leads me to my first question: am I supposed to respond to reviews through PM? I feel kinda rude not but it might be annoying if I do... Next is if I got Russia in character. I don't really know his character very well so I might have seriously messed up. Lastly, please tell me what pairings you think I should do! I'm totally stumped on that. And so ends my ridiculously long Author's Note.**


	10. Chapter 10

Udacha smelled strongly of waste and people. It was like entering into a rotting river of seaweed for Elizabeta. The areas beside the road were overflowing with onlookers and occasionally some kid would run out and a mother would scramble after them before they could be crushed under the elaborate carriages.

Elizabeta watched all this with some morbid kind of fascination. She found it unbelievable that these people were used to being this close to others, that having bodies pressed up against them at all times was completely normal. There was a huge wall made of random mismatched blocks of stone at the far side of the sprawling city. The carriages approached two large wooden doors with Clubs carved into them and painted green.

These doors began to open when the King's carriage got close. Elizabeta craned her neck and saw two watchtowers with crossbows aimed at the crowds, ready to shoot at anybody who even thought of posing a threat. That morbid fascination returned as Elizabeta watched the guard on her left shoot his bow somewhere in the crowd. She followed it with her eye to a man at the edge of the sidewalk holding a butter knife in one hand and being pulled by a young girl in the other. The arrow shot by the guard stuck itself into the shoulder of the arm with the knife and the hand immediately fell limp at his side. The knife clattered to the ground and was quickly covered in the blood streaming from the wound. Both Elizabeta and the man stared dumbly at the arrow until the girl noticed her father's injury and started shrieking hysterically.

Elizabeta turned her head from the scene and caught Eva staring at it with an expression crossed between disgust and sadness. She turned her head from Eva's painful expression and noticed Lars looking at her worriedly. When she cocked her head to ask him what he meant, he shook his head meaning it was nothing. Though the expression of serious worrying remained.

Inside the walls was a stark contrast to outside the walls. There was a steep incline where a mountain started. The yards on either side of the road were dead and brown from the swirling winds of winter. There were coniferous trees dotted in clusters and rocks jutted out of the uneven slopes. At the top of the long slope there was a large brown wall on a plateau. Upon closer examination, Elizabeta realized there were short fat towers coming out of the left side of the wall.

Once the entire caravan had made it to the top of the plateau, the Face Cards and family got out of the wagons that were then driven to some unseen place around the side of the wall-castle. Ivan started walking toward the Club-shaped entrance without hesitation with Vlad at his heels. Toris followed closely behind though he seemed slightly reluctant to do so. Roderich motioned for Elizabeta to follow him and they started on their way to the crumbling building. Now that Elizabeta'd had a better look at the wall, she noticed other cylindrical buildings peeking over the wall in various other places along the sides. They were surrounded in mountains and the clouds appeared dangerously close.

The group had nearly halved the distance when two young women ran out of the entrance towards them. They both reached Ivan at the same time and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. "Ivan's sisters, Princesses Natalia Arlovskaya and Katyusha Braginskaya." Roderich said to Elizabeta and her family when they looked at him in question.

Katyusha eventually leg Ivan go and after he caught as much of his breath as he could with Natalia still attached he motioned for Elizabeta to come over. "This is Elizabeta Hedervary, the new Queen of Clubs. I assume you'll be treating her well, da?" Ivan gave a look that looked something like a warning to Natalia, whom he'd finally managed to unwrap. Elizabeta found it creepy how he kept his smile on even when doing so.

"Elizabeta, this is my older sister Princess Katyusha Braginskaya. She's very nice." Ivan's smile faltered dramatically at the hesitation between very and nice. "She will most likely show you around the castle and will probably be there to help if you have any problems that need sorting out." Ivan seemed to be trying very hard to keep his smile in place. Katyusha gave a "nice to meet you" and waved happily. Katyusha wore a cheerful green skirt that billowed down to about her knees. She, like Elizabeta, didn't wear anything fancy with it, not even shoes. Elizabeta noticed with some surprise that the skirt was actually a pair of overalls. There was a white long-sleeved button-up shirt tucked into the skirt, and one of the buttons over her er...generous bosom had come out. Katyusha's face seemed nice and friendly thought there appeared to be something darker behind her slightly weak expression. Her teal eyes appeared to have tears at the edges. Short blond hair was pulled back by a thick white headband and the pieces that had fallen out of that were pulled back by bobby pins in crosses.

"This is my younger sister Natalia Arlovskaya. She is very pretty." Once again there was a falter and a hesitation. Elizabeta was starting to think Ivan wasn't as fond of his sisters as they appeared to be of him. "Err...she'll, uh, maybe be nice to you a little? Somewhat." Now he just looked like he was in pain. Natalia wore a long dress that went almost down to the ground, but not quite, revealing her bare feet. It was the color of pine needles. There was a mint green apron-type thing in the front of the dress held up by a thick sash striped horizontally with both colors. The sash was tied in a bow and you could just see the edges of it sticking out behind her thin waist. The collar was the minty color and circled out in the front a little. It was tied with a bow of the darker shade. The sleeves poofed out a lot at the shoulders but then went tight over Natalia's slim arms. The cuffs went about halfway up her arms and were held in place by silver club-shaped cufflinks. Natalia's face was indeed beautiful but it was a cold, almost scary type of beauty. The blue eyes were icy and stared at Elizabeta with a mix between something that resembled jealousy and murderous intent. Natalia's light blond hair was held back by a mint bow and fell to about the bow on her back.

Natalia simply turned and marched back towards the entrance with authority. Katyusha quickly followed behind her saying something about being rude to people of higher standing than her. When they disappeared Ivan uttered something that sounded like a sight of relief and her started back towards the entrance. Elizabeta and company followed him through the Club and into a large courtyard. Elizabeta was sure it'd be beautiful in all other seasons but now it was dead. The skeletons of bushes pointed confusedly in all directions at the guilty evergreens' needles, the only things left alive in the courtyard. Brown buildings bubbled out in fat cylinders from random spots along the wall.

Elizabeta turned to her left and there was a space in the wall beside the giant cylinder that led to more buildings of varying shapes and sizes. Katyusha came out of the Large Cylinder and approached the group. "I'll show Elizabeta around the castle now, if you want me to, Ivan." She said without looking at Elizabeta.

Ivan's smile widened. "Da, that would be very helpful. I'll have Yelena show Eva around and there is something I'd like to speak to Lars about." Elizabeta looked at Lars for some hint as to what that may be but Lars remained mysteriously expressionless.

A middle-aged woman appeared at Ivan's side. She was wearing a maid's outfit and pressing what looked like a tray to her stomach. "You called?" She asked in a voice like honey. She looked over at Eva and smiled warmly. Her black hair was pulled back and even when it was braided it fell to the small of her back. It was shot through with lightning strikes of brilliant white. Her skin was tanned and her hands were calloused from years of work.

"Da, I would like you to help the new Queen Elizabeta Hedervary's younger sister Eva find her way around." Yelena nodded and guided Eva off towards the space in the wall. "Come, Lars. We have many things to speak of, da?" Ivan motioned and they started off towards one of the random cylinders on the wall.

Katyusha looked at Elizabeta. "Shall we start?" she asked. Toris and Roderich had disappeared and Elizabeta guessed Vlad had went with Ivan. After a while you kinda forgot he was there. They started towards the space and explored the buildings in there for hours. There was practically an entire village right within the castle walls. Elizabeta's favorite room was the Library. It had an entire building all to itself! Though Elizabeta enjoyed being outside, there was nothing she like more than knowing stuff, and the best way to know stuff is to learn it. That's what libraries are for. Knowing stuff.

The Giant Cylinder was the rooms of all the Face Cards and their families and servants. The servant's quarters were a sprawling building at the edge of the area where the wall turned out. The orders of the building was the highest was on top. King Ivan had the top floor, Elizabeta had the next, Roderich was after that, below him was Toris, then came Ivan's family, next was Elizabeta's family, at the bottom was the close servants. Apparently Roderich and Toris didn't have any family that lived with them. When Elizabeta asked Katyusha about this, she said Roderich's family lived in a different area of the castle set aside for the highest nobles and the Grand Council. Nobody was allowed in this part except those who lived there. Toris' family wasn't actually related to him but they all grew up together and each of them were the Aces to each Kingdom.

The dining hall was all the way across the courtyard in another one of those cylinders. The dining room was on the top floor, though they often ate on the roof when it was nice out according to Katyusha. The bottom two floors of the dining hall were hot and crowded with people yelling orders and cooking food. It smelled like heaven in there though. The third floor appeared to be where the servants ate. It was jam-packed with tables and chairs in random and uneven patterns. In the higher dining hall there were two long tables. One for the council and nobles and one for the Face Cards and the family. When Elizabeta and Katyusha arrived, everybody else was already there. Katyusha promptly burst into tears and began apologizing for being late and that it was all her fault and that she promises it'll never happen again but please forgive her for being so late that the food's cold and inedible she knows what she'll do she'll go and eat with the servants that's the only way she can make up for horrible faults she hopes her younger brother can find it in his kind heart to forgive such a useless older sister.

And she left. Ivan sighed with his smile still on. "Don't mind her, she's always like that. She'll get over it eventually." Natalia said without turning around. Elizabeta nodded and took her seat with Toris at her right and Eva at her left. Elizabeta paid close attention to the way others ate and tried to copy their unconscious sophistication. And failed.

Lars was eating stiffly like something was bothering him. Elizabeta just dismissed it as eating in front of all the Face Cards like that. Though, as the meal continued on, he only seemed to get more stressed and Elizabeta decided to ask him about it after dinner. Vlad was nowhere in sight. When Elizabeta asked Toris about it he said Vlad ate down with the servants on the third. floor. Toris mumbled under his breath, "that way he can get some relief." Elizabeta understood what he meant. Being around Ivan was like being a mouse watched by a harmless little chick, but when you got close to it, it turned into a vulture. He watched your every move and took note of it, ready to twist it against you the first chance he got. Under that smile he was slowly calculating your painful demise and the many ways he could go about executing it. It struck Elizabeta that that was what the three siblings had in common.

After dinner Lars and Ivan disappeared wordlessly and Elizabeta couldn't find them anywhere. It wasn't until it was time to go to bed that Elizabeta had the chance to talk to him. "What were you so upset about at dinner?" Elizabeta caught Lars' arm and asked him.

"I was upset? Must not have noticed." Lars answered and continued to walk towards the Giant Cylinder.

Elizabeta matched his pace. "You were obviously upset about something, do you think I'm stupid? And I want to know what it is. You shouldn't keep secrets from family."

"I wasn't upset that much. Maybe all this stress is getting to you. I know it's getting to me. And I have a lot more coming. That's probably why I appeared upset. I was stressing."

"Okay, then what did you and Ivan talk about?" Elizabeta wasn't about to give up.

"Politics. Money." Obviously.

"But there had to be something else that got you so stressed. You don't crack easily."

"Even if there was, it's not like it would concern you. I think you must have mistook the way I was eating." Lars ascended into his suite and Elizabeta started climbing to hers. That was a hint all right. And he knew it. Elizabeta's mind forgot to be puzzled when she laid down in the soft warm bed. She'd figure it out all right. It was something bit and it certainly did concern her. Lars had said that pretty clearly. Maybe he wasn't allowed to tell or something, though he never was the type to concern his problems with others. They got in the way of his final goal: money. It didn't matter right then anyways. Elizabeta had some sleep to catch up on.

**A/N: So I'm really sorry about not updating last weekend. I kinda forgot my flashdrive... AzamiBlossom, SapphyreMyst, and greyeyes1kittycat, your reviews were very helpful and I'll keep in mind everything you said. The advice made me rethink this whole chapter and I think it turned out loads better! And to SappyreMyst and all others who were wondering, you can find out about cardverse by looking it up on google and going to the wikia page. BetweenDreamsAndReality has a great Cardverse story called A Clockwork Spade, which is where I learned most about it. Also, The Book of Hetalia Logic by Mitsuki Horenake are great for learning the characters. I do not own Hetalia or any of the stories just mentioned.**


	11. Chapter 11

Elizabeta had no idea Queens had to know so much. And she couldn't even do anything yet because she had to train, or whatever. Elizabeta had to wake up at five every morning and eat breakfast under the tyrannic command of the oh-so-sophisticated Roderich. Not that Elizabeta minded being with him, in fact she enjoyed it. Just that he expected her to be a born-and-bred lady already. Then they were off to one of the many buildings to learn the language of the Kingdom of Hearts, where they were going to meet the other Face Cards after Zelenyy and Klever. After Elizabeta had effectively memorized all the words of the day, it was off to the Library to learn this, that, and the other thing. Roderich was continually encouraging Elizabeta on. If Elizabeta couldn't know all this stuff fast enough, the King would get tired of waiting and dispose of her.

Apparently Face Cards are often the targets of assassinations because Elizabeta also had to be well trained in self-defense. This was also watched over by Roderich, though he didn't seem to be in very good shape himself. Elizabeta was already in shape so this training was discarded pretty quickly. Though now until Elizabeta picked her "personal item" which was apparently something all Face Cards had to have, and it was used as their weapon as well as their identification or something of the sort. Elizabeta thought it was all kinda stupid but complied anyway and just decided it would be her frying pan, which she had already been carrying around daily.

After her self-defense training (which was later turned into just learning all the things a Queen was supposed to do, with the aid of Toris when he was around), Elizabeta was allowed a while of free time before it was dinner time, after which there was more learning to do. During this time Elizabeta normally explored the castle, slowly learning its anatomy. Sometimes she caught up with Roderich or Eva, who was training just as hard to be a noble. Other times Elizabeta would get a random book from the library and run off to read where nobody would find her.

Lars seemed to disappear with the King for long periods of time, and when they returned, he seemed moody and easily annoyed. When Elizabeta would ask him what was wrong, he would just shrug it off saying that all the studying she was doing was getting to her head and that she needed to rest.

A long and boring month of this routine trudged by. At dinner one night Toris announced that he would be leaving to each of the Kingdoms to schedule the introductions starting with Diamonds. Lars jumped at the opportunity when Toris asked if he would like to go. After dinner, Eva and Lars immediately disappeared and Elizabeta didn't get to see either one of them until the next day after Lars had left.

Elizabeta caught up to Eva in her free time and asked, "Where did you two go last night? I didn't even get to say bye to Lars."

"Oh, sorry about that. There was something we needed to talk about." Eva seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with Elizabeta, instead finding great interest in the ground, which was starting to grow little sprouts of grass here and there. "But did you hear? We're going to be going to Zelenyy and Klever soon! Oh, I can't wait! This castle was really starting to bore me and we're not even allowed to leave the wall over there. Something about King Ivan not trusting you completely yet or something like that? Can you believe he'd just up and say something like that like it was completely normal? I mean, we have to train in social skills but it seems like he and his sisters are the ones who really need it."

Eva was blabbering, a sign that she was nervous. Lars might be able to hide almost anything but Eva was an open book. "Eva, is something bothering you?" Elizabeta asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Well yeah, I just told you what was wrong. Ivan and his sisters are totally creepy." Eva said crossing her arms. If these lessons did anything, they made her more rude, something Eva had a problem with in the first place.

"No, I mean other than that. You looked worried when I asked you about Lars." Elizabeta said. Eva's new attitude had been starting to piss her off lately.

"Obviously I'm worried! Lars is halfway across the freaking Kingdom by now and I have not idea how he's doing! You really wanna know what we were talking about? I told him he shouldn't go because he might get killed or something! And he obviously didn't listen because he left some time in the night. There, now you know. The big secret's out. Got nothing else to ask, Miss Oblivious? I'm leaving." Eva then stormed off toward her quarters.

Elizabeta decided to read and clear her guilty thoughts. At dinner she would apologize and try to see what she was thinking. When Elizabeta entered Natalia was lounging casually in one of the chairs reading a large book. Elizabeta looked around to find something interesting while keeping an eye on Natalia. The King's younger sister had done nothing but antagonize Elizabeta the entire time since she'd arrived. Elizabeta got the feeling that Natalia was planning something. It made her uneasy.

The entire time Elizabeta was searching, Natalia didn't turn one page. After what seemed like enough time for the slowest reader in the world to have finished a novel Elizabeta grabbed a random book off the shelf and spoke up. "Either you can't read or that's a really interesting picture."

Natalia looked up with suspicious eye. "Just thinking." Elizabeta was about to ask about what, but Natalia noticed and beat her to it. "About nosy Queens who always butt their way into other people's business."

"Why would you be thinking about me?"

"Who said I was talking about you? But if you really must know, I'm thinking of ways to remove said Queens from my life. I find they're a hindrance and nothing more." Natalia actually appeared to be reading her book now. Almost like she was intentionally not turning a page to get Elizabeta's attention.

"Just because somebody annoys you doesn't mean you have to kill them." Elizabeta found that her temper was running out quicker than she would have liked because of the incident with Eva.

"Oh, are certain relatives making our beloved Queen troubled? Please do sit down and tell me about it. How about we have some tea while chatting, as well?" Elizabeta wondered if it was physically possible to be more sarcastic.

"My apologies but I'll have to decline your offer. I like to keep my family problems to myself, thank you." Thought Elizabeta had the odd feeling of actually wanting to tell Natalia what was on her mind.

"Understandable. But I must warn you that's not what they were talking about." Was she referring to the argument Elizabeta'd just had with Eva?

"What do you mean?" Elizabeta asked, immediately suspicious. Natalia had also disappeared last night, even leaving her usual post at her brother's side.

"The two disappeared so suddenly I got suspicious, so I went out to listen. They just marched out to the field, plain as day. They started arguing but I couldn't really hear. It was about how Lars didn't want to go see this mighty mysterious 'him' because it was too risky and Eva was saying he had to because their meeting was long overdue. Afterwards, Eva didn't really look all that worried, but instead almost anxious." Elizabeta looked at her like she was lying. Natalia just shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying that this 'sister' of yours is playing you like a deck of cards."

Elizabeta used all her will to resist slapping the knowing smirk off Natalia's face. Instead she kept her calm and responded like Roderich told her to when Natalia was messing with her. "I don't believe I've heard this little bit of information. What was this about me being played?"

"You heard me and understand perfectly well. Now that you mention it, I remember hearing there were spies on the premises, but you of all people have nothing to hide, right?" Both knew this wasn't true. "Something about them being from the Kingdom of Diamonds." Natalia looked up at Elizabeta, saying with her eyes, "now who was it that went to Diamonds again?"

"Eva and Lars would never betray Clubs! They'd never betray_ me._ Don't make accusations about people you don't even know."

"You never know what someone'll do until they do it, don't forget it. You can heed my warning and disregard it as lies. Either way is fine with me." Natalia returned to her reading and Elizabeta stormed out of the library. She was not going to let Natalia see her lose her cool. Elizabeta didn't feel like reading anymore. She knew that Natalia was lying, but something deep down kept on telling her it was the only excues for the suspicious behavior Lars and Eva were exhibiting.

Elizabeta wandered around in deep thought until dinner, clenching the book to her chest. When the time came, Elizabeta laid the book on a bench, finally looking at the title. _Interrogation and Other Methods of Getting Information_. Without thinking Elizabeta picked it back up and slipped into one of the inner pockets of her dress.

At dinner Eva was avoiding Elizabeta's gaze and Natalia kept giving her knowing smirks. Katyusha was really uncomfortable in the tense atmosphere and excused herself halfway through the meal. After Katyusha had left, Roderich tried to make idle chitchat and Elizabeta gladly complied.

Elizabeta barely saw Eva the next few weeks because she was being thrown about by preparation for and then the actual trips to Zelenyy and Klever. After these she had to finish up learning Heart's language (It was called German) and learn basic facts about each of the Kingdom's Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Aces. Lars came back sometime throughout these weeks but Elizabeta didn't get to talk to him either. Natalia didn't say anything but sent a look to Elizabeta every chance she got. "You'll know soon enough," she was saying.

And Elizabeta would know, all right. She couldn't wait to rub the truth in Natalia's cocky face when she was wrong.

So very wrong.

**A/N: Wow, this is not at all what I originally had. The beginning's not very good, I don't think. And I probably completely screwed up Belarus. Hey, I tried, right? Hmm, now I wonder who's spying on who? Next time you might find out! Or maybe not. I don't own Hetalia**


	12. Chapter 12

If Udacha was crowded, the entire Kingdom of Hearts was one bulging mass of people. It was the smallest and most populated Kingdom composed almost entirely of urbanized cities with towering buildings and crowded streets. Its colors were angry reds and pinks that left you with images of blood shed from wrath. In all the recent excitement, Eva seemed to have forgiven Elizabeta and was back to her usual self.

Roderich had insisted on riding in Elizabeta's carriage and now they were having a pleasant conversation about Hearts and what to look out for in its people. Roderich and Elizabeta had gotten a lot closer lately, spending most of their time together. Elizabeta had to admit that sometimes it creeped her out how he was always there, but she enjoyed his company more than anybody else's. He was also very helpful when Elizabeta had first become Queen and wasn't really sure about what to do.

You could see Hearts' castle miles before entering the Capital of Hearts (called Dusel according to Roderich.) The castle itself was like something from a fairy tale. It sprouted up out of the ground in spiraling towers that pointed in bloody spearheads. A giant's pink shoe box made up the main building, the crimson stiletto heels crashed out the top as homes for captive princesses. A wall of fire kept out unwanted plumbers dressed in red, so the green ones entered in their place. The heat of the building allowed plants to continue growing through the blue months of winter. A morbid fairy tale burnt around the edges.

Elizabeta was hesitant to enter the oven of a castle, but Roderich assured her she wasn't going to be incinerated. In Elizabeta's closet, there were copies of all her clothes in reds and pinks. Roderich said to change into Hearts' national color and meet him in the parlor. Elizabeta did as he asked. Though when she finished, she realized she had no idea where the parlor was, and had a sneaking suspicion that Roderich didn't either. Since they'd moved to Udacha, Elizabeta'd had to show Roderich the way countless times.

Elizabeta went down the stairs and started exploring around listening for voices and looking out for servants who could show her where she needed to go. Elizabeta was peering into yet another molten corridor and walking straight when she smacked right into a man. Both stumbled backwards and Elizabeta started blubbering out apologies.

"Now, now, there is no need to fear, mon lapin perdu. King Francis Bonnefoy of Diamonds will lead you where you need to go. My bed awaits." Francis put his hand on Elizabeta's back and started leading her the direction she came from.

"I need to find Roderich first. He's lost again somewhere and will probably get himself hurt or something." Francis made Elizabeta feel really uneasy and the fact that Roderich had warned her enough about him didn't help that feeling. Elizabeta fingered her frying pan as she allowed herself to be lead through the maze-like corridors.

"You are looking for Roderich Edelstein, Jack of Clubs? Could it be that you are Elizabeta Hedervary, Queen of Clubs?" Francis was surprised. He didn't think he'd be the first to meet Elizabeta, and alone at that.

"Yes to both. On second thought, could you just lead me to the parlor? I'm sure he'll make his way there eventually." Elizabeta shrugged it off and started walking a little faster. Partially because she was getting excited to meet the other Face Cards and also because she didn't want Francis' hand on her back anymore. Roderich had warned her about Francis and she wanted to avoid physical contact as much as possible.

The parlor was buzzing with life. Though the amount of Face Cards was actually very small, the number of nobles that came with them kept the room lively. Francis disappeared into the magma as soon as they broke through the volcanic wall. Elizabeta looked for Roderich for a while, but when she discovered he still hadn't arrived, she decided to meet the Face Cards herself. She found a servant and had them point out each one and tell what Kingdom they're from. After he did so to all the ones present in the room, Elizabeta marched right on up to the closest one.

"Hello, I am Elizabeta Hedervary, the new Queen of Clubs." Elizabeta stuck her hand out to the auburn-haired man.

"Ve~! I've been wanting to meet you!" The man grabbed Elizabeta's hand lightly and started pumping it up and down. But didn't stop. "You should meet Ludwig next, he's really nice and helps me out when I get in trouble! He's the King. Oh, speaking of which I forgot to tell you who I am! I am Feliciano Vargas, Jack of Hearts!" The man's cheerful speech started Elizabeta. "Do you have anybody to show you around? I'll do it! It'll be a lot of fun. We can go to the kitchen and get a snack. We're having pasta for dinner! I can't wait it's gonna be so good! What's your favorite food? Mine's pasta. Pasta is good for the soul."

And he was off, speaking only of pasta while they milled about the room. Elizabeta stopped listening and observed all the people she had identified as Face Cards. A blond man with bushy eyebrows was searching about for something or somebody and getting more and more frustrated. A timid-looking young girl was standing behind a short man who looked similar to her. The man was blocking the girl from Ivan, who was putting off a different air than usual. He seemed innocent and unaware, almost friendly. In a creepy kind of way.

A large man with a cowlick much like Roderich's was eating what appeared to be a slice of beef between two heels of bread and obnoxiously laughing with an uncomfortable-looking short man in a kimono instead of the traditional style of clothes everybody else was wearing.

Elizabeta found Toris talking with a blond man who was kinda frolicking around cheerfully. Elizabeta thought he might be wearing girl's clothes but she wasn't sure. This man was probably one of the ones Toris grew up with that Katyusha was talking about. As Elizabeta watched them, another, smaller man joined the two and awkwardly humored the blond one.

Elizabeta and Feliciano came across a servant zoning out much like Feliciano was doing when Elizabeta first came up to him. Feliciano continued his nonsensical one-sided conversation, though this time directed at the tanned man. The other smiled broadly and seemed to be able to actually follow the lecture on gourmet foods, even putting in his opinion here and there.

Slowly the two realized there was another party observing them with wonder. Feliciano cheerfully introduced Elizabeta and the other (just as cheerfully) replied that he was Antonio Fernandez Carriedo (though she could call him Toni.) The duo continued their debate over who makes the best tomato sauce and Elizabeta was getting dangerously bored when a loud voice yelled at the room to shut the hell up.

The voices slowly drained away until everybody was looking at the blond man wondering what he was going on about. The man searched the crowd with his eyes until they found Feliciano who pointed at Elizabeta. "The new Queen of Clubs will now introduce herself to the Face Cards currently in the room." The man, whom Elizabeta had deduced to being the King of Hearts, motioned with his finger for Elizabeta to come up on the slightly elevated ground of the adjoining room. When Elizabeta hesitated he motioned with much more command and Feliciano nudged her on.

Elizabeta stumbled her way through the shifting crowd and stood beside the King of Hearts. This close, Elizabeta thought she recognized him -could have sworn she did- but couldn't place his face so she just dismissed it. "Well, I'm Elizabeta Hedervary, the new Queen of Clubs..." and she launched herself into the mechanical speech she had used in Sestra, Zelenyy, Udacha, and Klever. The others appeared bored out of their minds, having heart similar speeches countless times.

Elizabeta nervously finished and the room returned to its lively chatter. Feliciano appeared out of the crowd followed by Antonio and congratulated Elizabeta on her position and her successful speech. Then he turned his focus to the King of Hearts, who seemed strangely quiet after his outbursts earlier. "Luddy!" Feliciano started. Luddy? That nickname sounded familiar. Elizabeta had a dim memory of somebody saying it in an obnoxious voice and teasing a younger person. Who was that?

"What is it now, Feliciano?" The King was pinching his nose to try and soothe the headache gatherings like this always gave him. Why did it have to be in the Kingdom of Hearts? Why couldn't it be in Clubs, where he wouldn't have to waste time and money on preparing_ his _house in celebration for somebody else' new title?

"When's dinner going to be ready? Talking about pasta with Toni made me hungry so can I have some now?" Feliciano cheerfully asked. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation for the upcoming pasta.

"For the last time, Feliciano, we're not having pasta for dinner. If you absolutely need some right now, go ask your brother. I'm pretty sure he's preparing it for a side dish or something. Take Antonio with you, please." Antonio seemed pretty happy about this, muttering something about getting to see a tomato.

"Pasta can't be served as a side dish!" Feliciano seemed to be actually angry over this. "It can only be the main one! Where is Lovi? He better not be making some second-rate pasta!" Feliciano marched off with Antonio following his happily, going on about his mysterious tomato.

Elizabeta was caught up in a gesture that was too familiar to be coincidence. She had seen a nose being pinched to cure an upcoming headaches a thousand times, each time coming with a different order, mainly directed at Gilbert. Gilbert... And that's when the recognition hit Elizabeta. There was only one person, too mature for their age who did that like it was going out of style.

"Ludwig!" Elizabeta burst out. Ludwig's head snapped up and familiar relief filled his eyes. So it really was him.

Elizabeta's head exploded with questions. Ludwig was Gilbert's younger brother. The one who always seemed to know exactly what he was supposed to be doing, and then doing it. Quickly, Quietly, and Effieciently. Elizabeta was not at all surprised that Ludwig had worked his way to the top. Though she was impressed that he did it so quickly. He was the King of Hearts before she made it to her position as Queen through dumb luck.

If Ludwig was here, did that mean Gilbert was, too? Elizabeta couldn't imagine him as an aristocrat and decided that he probably wasn't. In that case, where did he go? And what about their parents, who took care of Elizabeta after her own disappeared? There were so many questions, but when Elizabeta looked at Ludwig, they all evaporated in an instant. The expression on his face told her something bad had happened and she was better off not knowing about it. Elizabeta headed off into the crowd and continued introducing herself.

As the day wore on, Elizabeta became acquainted with the Face Cards and several others from Hearts. The man with bushy eyebrows was Arthur Kirkland, Queen of Spades, and what he was looking for was Alfred F. Jones, the King of Spades. Elizabeta accidentally laughed out loud when he approached her and she realized how ridiculously large his brows actually were. She was able to cover it up alright but he seemed to not like her after that.

The timid-looking little girl was Lili Zwingli, Queen of Diamonds. The older one was Vash Zwingli, Jack of Diamonds and Lili's brother. Iva introduced them to Elizabeta as his "close friends," and introduced her in much the same manner. The group kinda awkwardly stood there, Vash glaring daggers at anything and anyone, and Lili staring creepily up at him. They both freaked Elizabeta out a little bit. Ivan seemed to be aenjoying himself, though after a while he said, "I hope we can have fun together again sometime soon, da?" And left. The remaining three followed suit and Elizabeta went off to meet somebody a little more friendly.

The obnoxious man with the Roderich hair was identified as Alfred F. Jones, King of Spades, by Arthur, who had finally found him. Alfred introduced himself as the "Hero." The short black haired man was Kiku Honda, Queen of Hearts. Kiku jumped at the opportunity to get away from Alfred and who Elizabeta round. Elizabeta allowed herself to be shown around the room, though after they had gotten lost in the crowd, Kiku disappeared. Elizabeta figured he had been swallowed by the crowd (what was he, 5'1"?), and that she would find him sooner or later.

Elizabeta made her way over to Toris and his Friends. Another had appeared when she was going through introductions. This one had glasses and combed blond hair. Toris greeted Elizabeta happily, (she had never seen him so happy, but she figured part of that was because Ivan was always around and he seemed to get really shaky when Ivan was smiling at him.) and introduced her to his fellow Aces. The energetic blond one (confirmed wearing female clothes, though it almost looked good on him. Almost.) was Feliks Lukasiewicz, Ace of Hearts. The younger one was Raivis Galante, Ace of Spades. The last one with glasses was Eduard von Bock, Ace of Diamonds. Elizabeta had a pleasant enough conversation with the four. Or, three. When Elizabeta approached, Feliks hid behind Toris and refused to leave. Toris explained this was because he was shy.

Next thing Elizabeta knew, Ludwig was back at the front of the foom calling out dinner time. Everybody slowly poured into the dining room. There was a table set at the far end for all the Face Cards and Elizabeta was seated there by a servant whose hair curl and color reminded her of Feliciano. Ludwig was at one head of the table and Francis was placed at the other. Ivan and Alfred were facing each other at the centers of the sides. Elizabeta was on Ivan's right and directly across somebody who reminded her of Kiku, whom she hadn't seen since he disappeared. The dining room filled up and commenced with muted conversation. The main dish turned out to actually have been pasta, much to Ludwig's frustration and Feliciano's enjoyment. When it was served, Feliciano actually jumped up and hugged the servant who looked like him and Antonio. Ludwig had to yell at him to get him to finally sit down.

The man across from Elizabeta was Yao Wang, Jack of Spades. Elizabeta tried to make some kind of conversation with him, but she was just waved off. To Elizabeta's right was the magical disappearing Kiku, who refrained from speaking. The Aces weren't at the table, which struck Elizabeta as odd. She could pick out Eva's and Lars' heads at a farther table, with the two servants Feliciano seemed to like. Elizabeta ticked through everybody she'd met so far and realized she had gone through all the Face Cards. Though they were strange, (very strange...) she was looking forward to working with them. Somewhat.

"So what do you think about the Face Cards? Anybody interesting?" Eva was sitting on Elizabeta's borrowed bed and interrogating her about her day.

"Well, there were a lot of interesting people..." Elizabeta replied. She didn't know what to think of the strange people she'd just met.

"Like who?" Eva misunderstood Elizabeta's comment.

"All of them. They were so weird I didn't know what to think. All of them. Guess I fit right on in, right?" Elizabeta said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess you do." Eva said without her usual cheer. Elizabeta looked up at her face, surprised. There was the ghost of a smile on it, though her eyes had gone cold. Eva quickly blinked out of it and returned to herself.

Elizabeta was forced to go through her thoughts on every single Face Card, though she didn't know any of them very well. Eva blanked out like that several times throughout the conversation and Elizabeta was starting to get worried. It felt like there had been a mask, and now it was starting to rub thin in places, revealing some kind of beast that had been hiding within. Elizabeta wondered why she would feel like that when she knew what Eva was really like.

This made Elizabeta remember what Natalia had said. Eva probably had a cold or something and didn't want her to worry. Yeah, totally. Eva was looking at Elizabeta weirdly. "Are you okay? You just stopped talking in the middle of a sentence. Something on your mind? Don't tell me you fell in love with one of the Face Cards we just met? I wonder who it is~!"

"Ah, no. I was thinking about something Natalia had said about you and Lars." Since it wasn't true, Elizabeta could tell them, right? So what was this hesitation?

"What has she been saying now? You know, you can't believe a word out of her mouth. The only reason she talks is to piss people off and spread lies." Yep. Attitude problems were definitely still there.

Elizabeta decided she should tell Eva. Just to clear this up. "She said that you and Lars are spies from Diamonds. At first I didn't believe it, but the thought was still there and now I can't get it out of my head." Elizabeta felt relieved to have that off her chest. Though she left out the part where Eva and Lars were acting suspicious.

When Elizabeta looked over at Eva to see what she'd respond, Eva had that blanked out expression back. "Why would _she _be thinking that?" Eva asked mainly herself but Elizabeta answered.

"Well, she said she heard you talking to Lars before he left for Diamonds and that she'd already known there were spies from Diamonds. She was probably lying about half of it, though." Elizabeta was starting to get nervous. Why was Eva responding like that? She was supposed to outright deny it.

Eva stayed quiet so long Elizabeta was about to ask if it was true when Eva burst out laughing. At first it was just a few restrained giggles, but it slowly morphed into something Elizabeta found strangely horrifying. It was not the laugh Elizabeta was used to hearing from Eva. Eva was holding her stomach and tears were streaming out of her eyes when she abruptly stopped laughing and said "No. That's not true." Elizabeta didn't really know what to say to her. Eva was climbing out of the bed completely calm like nothing happened. Before Eva exited the room, she turned around and said, "Don't think too hard on anything Natalia says. Eventually she's going to cross the line and pay the consequences. You won't have to worry about that." And she was gone, leaving Elizabeta to wonder on what she meant.

Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter right then. The excitement of the day overwhelmed Elizabeta when Eva left. Elizabeta started to go through her evening rituals, then decided they didn't matter and just collapsed on the freshly made bed. It might have been exhaustion, but Elizabeta was dreaming about something that shouldn't have happened in a place that wasn't supposed to exist.

**A/N: I'm Back in Black, I hit the sack. I've been too long I'm glad to be back. Heh, stuff happened but here I am! Thanks to SapphyreMyst for inspiring me to get over my writer's block. And as this is post-writer's block, it might not be the best. But hey, what can you do? Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, Super Mario Bros (kudos if you got that reference), or the song Back in Black by AC/DC (not me.) I don't think there's anything else I referenced in this, but if there is I don't own that either.**


	13. Chapter 13

_The boundary on Elizabeta's world was getting smaller and smaller as more and more of the world was being eaten by the Contamination. She'd had to move 3 times in the past year, and now they were saying this new place would be condemned and she'd be pushed further in. Always in. Nobody else seemed to realize it, but the Contamination was trapping them into a corner. There was no way they could leave the inside and look for a safe place without the fear of getting Contaminated and turning into Mutants, where they would wander around until their body exhausted itself._

_Elizabeta wasn't going to move again. Running from the Contamination was pointless. It was going to corner them and they were eventually going to end, just running away, backing out. Nobody had even tried living outside the continuously redrawn Barrier. What carried the Contamination was the Mutants. They carried it in their blood, so every time they were wounded, it spread. When the Mutant wore itself out or was injected with their chemical, the dust it left was completely safe. Elizabeta also knew from experience that Contaminated plants and animals were not infectious. Though that information was probably unknown to those safe in the center of their ever-shrinking world._

_Prepared to die or go insane her own way, Elizabeta left the little border town to stray off on her path. Cross pennant and crumbled note in one hand, knife in the other, Elizabeta wandered, watched, and waited for something to happen. Maybe she would be found, after it was all over. All outbreaks have to end eventually, right? But things never work out that way._

_Elizabeta ran, knowing it was futile to run or hide form a Mutant. She had learned twice how well they could find what they were looking for. Her. It grabbed Elizabeta with its human-like arms in some sick parody of a hug. Elizabeta could smell the caked blood on its rotting face. She screamed and started pushing the open jaws away from her body. This mutant was running low on energy, Elizabeta could feel the flesh flaking off where she touched it._

_Taking this chance, Elizabeta took the bottom jaw and snapped the brittle bones out of place. It would only stall for a few seconds, but that was enough time for Elizabeta to slip out of its weakened embrace and run off into the forest again._

_The forest came to a large clearing of twisted wild flowers in brilliantly shining, unnatural colors. Their thick roots shot up out of the ground in choke holds for ankles. The light summer breeze blew dust out from under the gnarled toots. The dust of perished mutants. Elizabeta started across the clearing, watching the roots and toxic injection needles and making slower progress than she would have liked._

_About halfway through the crumbling ground, the mutant made it to the clearing and charged right into the nest of warped roots and spiked flowers in an array of insanely beautiful colors. It fell and came back up restrained and captured by the greedy flowers' need._

_Elizabeta continued on her merry little way, quicker this time. Her legs were covered in venomous impalements and she was starting to get dizzy from them. Making it across the chasm between life and the unknown, Elizabeta turned back to observe the Mutant's progress. It was still struggling with the difficult flowers in a too-human rage. _

_Elizabeta had started to turn around to leave when she stopped dead. There was a too-familiar rustling in the foliage she was about to charge into. The pause of complete silence was somehow scarier than the Mutants pouncing out of the growth. At least that had a presence. In the silence Elizabeta felt her reality of terror and Mutants wearing thin. Her life was about to be thrown into an unimaginable chaos and there was absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing she could do about it. What was in this bush was going to be so much worse than anything she'd ever even thought of experiencing before._

_And in a way it was. The Mutant coming out of the bush was smaller than Elizabeta'd ever seen. A child. Though it was quicker and much younger than the other one still struggling with Hell's garden. It pounced on Elizabeta before she could get over the ominous silence and stared her directly in the eye, forcing Elizabeta to take in its young face._

_The eyes were so much worse than any other. They were young and feminine. Unlike the ones she'd seen before, these eyes were enjoying the hunger and need. Loving losing control and preying on humans. And they absolutely knew they were going to enjoy Elizabeta most of all._

_"We're coming. For you." The other Mutant finally joined them and removed the Eva-thing from Elizabeta. A battle broke out between the two over the frozen Elizabeta. They weren't coming because she didn't want them to. She could get back to her safe little life and leave all this Queen business behind. If only she could survive this dream. _

_But her head hurts, oh man it really seriously hurts and her whole body's numb. She probably couldn't even move to run away if she wanted to because she's trapped in these sick flowers' unending nightmare because they all want to suck her soul. Every single one of them wants to trap her in an eternally beautiful sleep and she can't avoid their affections because her head hurts and she wants to wake up before she dies pathetically by these two creatures of man. It is Elizabeta's dream so why can't she do what she wants and just be done with this and wake up in a nice warm comfortable bed with everything back to normal with Eva by her side?_

_And in a bed Elizabeta was. Though she was alone and hurt all over, she was alive. As Elizabeta's blurred vision refocused itself a young face with large, worried eyes was leaning over her. But Elizabeta wouldn't be fooled. Those eyes had just tried to devour her. Elizabeta sprang up on the other side of the bed and watched as the worried frown turned upside down into a sadistic grin. The child's teeth pointed until the blackened gums bled a purple sludge and the body warped and distorted until it was stretching out to her, pushing Elizabeta in, ever in. Back into the circle like a good little girl._

_Elizabeta cried out to no avail. She was completely alone with a demon in a dying world full of suffering and dead life. This was the path that had been chosen, and it must always be followed through, no matter what was to happen. Bend the rules laid out and they'll snap right back._

**A/N: Man, it's been a while. Didja miss me? Didn't think so. So I've completely lost all confidence in my writing abilities. That's part of the reason it took so long. The other reason is internet troubles. I don't normally ask for reviews, and even though this was still a lot better than originally (it's actually pretty good at first glance). And I'm not really sure where this is going anymore. Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh well, it doesn't matter. Tell me what you think! I'll take everything into consideration no matter what.**


	14. Chapter 14

Elizabeta woke up to her face burning. The dizziness, pain, and fear was all disappearing quickly, a fading memory. A young man was standing ove Elizabeta with his hand pulled. back. When he noticed Elizabeta was awake, his hand fell to the side and he just looked at her worriedly. Elizabeta sat up, ready to spring at the first sign of body transformation. He just looked at her.

After several long, silent moments, the blond man spoke up in a naturally cheerful voice. "It looked like you were having a nightmare so I woke you up. He explained. His purple eyes had taken on an instinctive kindness that matched his childish face.

"What are you doing in my room?" Was the first thing that came to Elizabeta's mind. Who was he, anyway?

"Waiting for you to wake up so we could talk without disruption." The face that he could say something so weird so naturally threw Elizabeta off.

"Who are you? What's your name and where are you from?" White. The man was dressed up in completely white, the only color without a Kingdom. White meant nothing. Absence of color, absence of life. Absence of knowledge, experience, and evil. Absolutely nothing.

"I wonder...?" The man got a faraway expression on his face, the nostalgia of visiting some distant, unknown place. "But everybody calls me Tino. You're very hard to find, Elizabeta. There are many things we need-"

"How do you know my name and why were you looking for me?" Elizabeta was on her knees now, fingering the frying pan that was still in her wrinkled dress.

"Because we need your help." His voice and face were both patiently coaxing Elizabeta to listen. She could barely stand the generosity Tino seemed to radiate.

"With what?" But Elizabeta wasn't going to cave. She knew better than to trust a kind face.

"That's what we need to talk about." Tino was going to carry this out until he had Elizabeta's unwavering attention. It was important.

"I'm listening." Elizabeta would hear Tino out and decide for herself what to do.

"You're stubborn." An amused smile took over his face, thought it quickly reverted back to the semi-seriousness he'd had before. "First, believe me when I say there are other people out there than your four Kingdoms." This was easy for Elizabeta, as she'd been outside the Boundary and experienced for herself how the outside was. Tino smiled when Elizabeta took this without thinking twice. The rest was going to be easy.

"Yes. We've been living with the Contamination ever since it began and never had any troubles. But now our Queen has fallen ill to some unknown disease without any successors. This is where you come in. I hear that, not only being a Queen who has been outside the Boundary, you are childhood friends with a Joker who has also been beyond the Boundary.

"Jokers, as you probably know, are capable of using magic to combat any illness. We would like you to bring your Joker friend with us to our home and save our Queen from dying." Tino looked at Elizabeta with a wavering smile and tearful eyes, though he quickly straightened himself out as hope took it over.

Elizabeta felt sorry for Tino, but she didn't know any Jokers, nor did she hope to. Especially if they shape shifted. Elizabeta steeled herself and looked at Tino with cold eyes. "I can't help you. So leave and go back to your Queen."

Tino looked as if Elizabeta had punched him in the gut. Sick and in pain. "W-Why?" The voice was of one asking, pleading for help. Elizabeta felt sick. How could she call herself human, turning down one as cute and helpless as this? And then it hit her. Tino was emphasizing his desire with his youthful face and soft voice.

Tino was still looking at her with that painfully disgusted look on his face. "I have to change my clothes. You should probably leave before somebody finds you, since I don't think you're supposed to be here. Elizabeta went into her personal restroom and started putting on the fiery parody of the dress she usually wore. She was seriously getting sick of red.

When Elizabeta returned, there was nothing in her room but red and pink. Tino had apparently lit the lamps and now that they were off Elizabeta could see that the sun was just rising. Elizabeta pulled open her curtains to a bloody sunrise. God, she was getting sick of red.

"Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." Elizabeta heart Tino's voice say. She jumped and looked around, though the young man was nowhere in sight. Elizabeta wondered about this as she went to get her breakfast, dismissing the earlier encounter to focus on the day ahead.

Tino searched out mentally for that thread of a signal. Once he latched onto it, everything was smooth sailing. But reaching that tendril was always a real pain. Tino looked up and the red sky reminded him of a poem his deceased friend used to say. Tino finally found that communication and hooked onto it. "I planted the seed. Though she's not with us yet, she'll come over soon enough." Tino thought onto the line and felt the vibration down it, until the signal reached out into the great unknown and found his partners. Tino recieved several agreements and cheers, and let go of that pillar of communication one of his partners had set up for use any time. Only a little until their plan was started.

Elizabeta didn't know whether to be disgusted or delighted that their breakfast was leftovers of that delicious pasta served the previous night. The Face Cards filtered in as Elizabeta pondered the pros and cons of eating. Roderich claimed his seat at Elizabeta's side. After several seconds of staring at his meal, Roderich turned to Elizabeta. "Do you think I should eat-hey, you look pale. Guess that's a no then?" Roderich slightly pushed his plate away.

"No, it's probably alright. They wouldn't poison their Face Cards too, would they?" Elizabeta looked at Feliciano trying other people's dishes and marveling over how amazing pasta was no matter what and took a bite herself. Elizabeta hesitantly chewed the cold, stale mush to prove that it was completely fine.

"Then what's the matter? Do you not feel well?" Roderich was worried about Elizabeta. What if she was sick?

"No, I guess I didn't sleep well last night. But I'm feeling fine now." Elizabeta decided it would be best not to let anybody know about Tino or the dreams she was having. There were too many things that could go wrong with others knowing about that kind of thing.

Roderich was looking at Elizabeta worriedly. "Well, if there's ever anything wrong you can tell me about it. I'll do the best I can to help." Roderich returned to eating in time for Feliciano to claim Elizabeta's other side and begin chatting excitedly about this and that.

Feliciano left and there were about two minutes of peace until a fight between Arthur and Francis erupted on the other side of the room. Alfred was watching them and laughing so obnoxiously Elizabeta decided the fight was his fault. A couple people tried to calm them down but most just left it alone. Roderich told Elizabeta that this was a too-normal experience and that it would get worse.

And worse it got. Elizabeta's world went from a muted peace to complete chaos after such a small trigger. It took every calm person and Ludwig losing his temper (again. Was he always this irate?) To shut them up. Once the room was somewhat close to its original state, just messier and angrier, Ludwig began the morning briefing.

Until he was interrupted by the side door being slammed open. "The awesome me has come from the Center to visit my not-as-awesome younger brother!" The silver-haired man announced as he came marching into the dining room as if he was king of the world.

Ludwig was about to die. Seriously. Why today, of all days, did _he_ have to come? Ludwig was stressed out enough as it was. This couldn't be healthy. He'd have to retire at this rate. And so Ludwig's thoughts concerned over his health instead of how to deal with the problem at hand: Gilbert.

"Whoah, I didn't know you had guests, Luddy. Now you can introduce them to me! I'm sure meeting me will be an inspiration to them all." Gilbert nodded as if agreeing with himself and perched up on the small stage Ludwig was using. A yellow bird perched itself on Gilbert's head after he was situated.

"I forgot Ludwig has an obnoxious older brother. He's even a Joker, can you believe it? A Joker related to the King of Hearts! Though I guess the Queen of Spades is also related to a Joker. This man has absolutely no manner and is a disgrace to the Kingdom of Hearts." Elizabeta tuned Roderich out. When he got mad, he tended to complain about every single thing.

"Gilbert, what are you doing here?" Ludwig finally asked exasperatedly. There was no way to get Gilbert to go home until Gil wanted to.

"Didn't I already say? I wanted to see my cute little brother. Wow, there's a great view from here. I can see every-hey, no way, is that Elizabeta? What's she doing here? Did you bring her back from Clubs? And what's she doing with that stuck-up Roderich? -Oh, she's looking this way!- Hi, Elizabeta! Long time no see, right?" Gilbert was waving with his entire arm, as if Elizabeta couldn't see him.

Elizabeta didn't know how to respond so she just sat there looking at him dumbly. "Does she not see me? Hey! Elizabeta, over here! It's me, Gil! Remember? From when we were younger?" Gilbert started jumping up and down and waving both of his arms. The entire room was in a stunned silence.

Roderich looked at Elizabeta accusingly. "You mean you knew this imbecile before?"

"Yeah, I guess. We sorta grew up together. But that's kinda it." Elizabeta avoided thinking about how close they were and that kiss he gave her before he moved away. And of course how they always went beyond the Boundary and explored the Toxic Forest. If Gilbert didn't watch his mouth, he could get them both in serious trouble. Elizabeta gave Gilbert a halfhearted wave to satisfy him.

"Ooh, she saw me. But there's way too many people and that creepy Ivan here. I'm gonna take her somewhere else." Gilbert turned around and started speed-walking out of the dining room. Elizabeta was not about to let Gilbert running away after he embarrassed her like that. She chased after him, with Roderich close behind.

After a moment or two of silence, the room resumed conversation as if nothing had happened. Ludwig, too exhausted to continue the morning briefing, left to find something for his headache. At least everything would be over tomorrow. And everything will be as peaceful and quiet as normal.

Tomorrow is when everything starts. A friendship to be rekindled, a plan to be ignited, and chaos to be ablaze; all in the land of fire.

**A/N: Whoah, that took me a while. I have excuses but I won't give them out. But now I'm hopefully back for good! My writer's block seems to be over and this is finally getting to the main part. I have to give an extra special thanks and a cookie to cancer216 for the awesome PM, that finally determined me to try again. And I can't forget Karikinis who answered me in a roundabout way. I have not obtained Hetalia in this long absence, sorry!**


	15. Chapter 15

Elizabeta caught up to Gilbert alone in one of the many small rooms that made up the Castle of Hearts. The two just stared at each other for a while before Elizabeta finally decided to break the ice. "Why did you call me out like that in front of everybody? Now I'm pretty sure Roderich's mad at me."

Gilbert took a while to answer. "You wouldn't have come with me if I didn't. And who cares about that bastard Roderich anyways? He's too stuck-up and prissy." He shrugged it off. Now that he was actually talking to Elizabeta it was all awkward. Gilbert didn't like awkwardness. It muted his awesomeness.

"For your information, I actually happen to _like_ Roderich. He's nice and not rude. Unlike some people." Elizabeta glared at Gilbert accusingly. He had no right to insult somebody he probably barely knew.

"Really?" Gilbert was surprised. He definitely didn't see that coming. Maybe Elizabeta had changed in all the years? "But that's not important right now. Are you a Face Card or something?" Gilbert asked. The way she was dressed and acting made it seem like that. But there was no way Elizabeta could ever be a Face Card, right? Of course not.

Not important? Elizabeta let that one slide. "Well, yeah, actually. I'm the Queen of Clubs." Elizabeta announced proudly. Not everybody can easily say something like that.

She had definitely changed. A lot. "Wow, I didn't see that coming. But I'm glad you could make it that high. Now you're closer to being as awesome as me!" And the ending blew it. Gilbert didn't have the ability to change. No amount of time or anything else could ever fix that.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why are you a Joker?" Elizabeta had to know. Best to just plunge on in to the awkward subjects and get them over with.

"Oh, this? Pretty cool, right? But that's a secret for another time. It's not awesome enough to talk about right now. But maybe later." Gilbert tried to get around it. That's something she didn't have to know just yet.

"Ok fine. I get that." But damn Elizabeta really wanted to know. She'd get it out of him eventually. "Can I ask you just one question?"

"Sure what is it?" Gilbert didn't have to answer if he didn't want to, so what was the harm?

"Can you shape shift?!" Elizabeta exploded out. It was a very important question.

"What? No. Why would you ask something like that?" How would she know that? Things were getting way too close for comfort.

"Uh, no reason. I heard it somewhere and wanted to know if it was true. That's all." Gilbert had started laughing and Elizabeta let out a relieved laughter along with him. Of course Jokers couldn't shape shift. TImes had changed. Right?

After a short laugh and comfortable silence, Elizabeta had another question to ask. "Is that bird on your head Gilbird?"

"I'm surprised you remembered. Yeah, he is. Though he's starting to get old now." As if in response, Gilbird chirped and fluttered around a little. The friendly silence turned awkward quickly as the two were remembering what happened after Gilbert claimed Gilbird.

Roderich chose this time to catch up. "You two walk too fast. I had to stop and rest along the way. Then I couldn't find you." Roderich looked annoyed.

"You didn't have to follow us. Why did you, anyway?" Gilbert was equally annoyed. That guy always had to crash everything.

"I came to warn Elizabeta about your deceptive ways. She said she knew you when she was younger and I wanted to wern her that you most likely changed for the worse." Roderich turned up his nose to signal that he was much better than Gilbert. After all, he was the Jack of Clubs, and didn't need to yield to the whims of some immature Joker.

"At least I have my own personality instead of your weak one." It sounded like the two were having a lovers' spat. So the disinterested Elizabeta tried imagining them as such. And found that it made her strangely excited.

She kept at it until they turned to her and asked in unison, "Well, what do you think?"

Elizabeta stared at them, startled out of her imagination. A very queenly "Huh?" is all she could manage in response.

Roderich sighed. "We were asking you-" Feliciano came running in and knocked right into Roderich. Roderich stumbled forward and ran into Gilbert. The two managed to stay up while Feliciano sprawled out on the floor.

"I was looking for you! Luddy got worried that Gil was gonna wreck his house. I said that wasn't going to happen but he sent me to find you." Feliciano hopped up good as new and grabbed Elizabeta's hand. "Come on Elizabeta! It's almost snack time and you don't want to miss out on Toni's churros! They're the best in the world. Especially if Lovi helps out making them!" Feliciano dragged Elizabeta away leaving Roderich and Gilbert alone and way too close.

"I'll show you who's Elizabeta's favorite." Roderich challenged, dusting himself off. "You're nothing more than a forgotten memory, an unwanted but of the past." Roderich stormed off leaving Gilbert glaring at his back.

Gilbird hopped onto Gilbert's shoulder and ruffled his feathers disapprovingly. "I know. I'm too awesome to get caught up in his childish challenge. Though it's important for me to get close to her for the plan to work. I'll play along for now, though she already seems to trust me again. Maybe this will start much sooner than anticipated." Gilbert slipped on his trusty mask out of habit and walked away laughing and reaching out for that elusively thin line connecting to the rest of the world.

* * *

Feliciano dragged Elizabeta into the kitchen seemingly having forgotten his original mission of keeping Gilbert from making a mess. Toni and the servant who looked like Feliciano were working around an industrial-sized oven. Toni seemed to be enjoying himself while the other looked like he was suffering a pain worse than fate. A second later, Elizabeta noticed Eva helping the two, though it didn't seem like she knew what she was doing.

"Toni! Are the churros done yet?" Feliciano asked excitedly. The kid got way too excited about food.

"Sorry Feli, it'll still be a while. You two can help us make it faster, though!" A wide friendly smile was on Antonio's face. But then again, when wasn't it?

"No way! We don't need anymore bastards here! There's already too fucking many." Lovino objected spiritedly.

"Oh, Elizabeta, this is Lovino, Feliciano's brother and second head chef of Hearts." Eva informed Elizabeta. Seeing her here acting like normal felt weird after the way she was acting the previous night. (It _was _only the night before. Though it felt like much, much longer.) Eva noticed Elizabeta staring at her, searching for any trace of change. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Elizabeta hadn't even realized she was staring. "No, I was wondering if you're feeling beeter now. Weren't you sick or something last night?" For some reason Elizabeta could barely remember anything. The dream was starting to fade, too. Though she could still remember the others perfectly. What happened? She was in the Toxic Forest and...what? There was a girl? But who was it? And why was she there?

"Oh...yeah. I probably ate too much last night and that must've been what you were noticing. Most likely." Toni, Lovino, and Feliciano had all gone back to their churros so Elizabeta and Eva were alone on the other side of the room.

"Right, that was pretty delicious. Have you seen Roderich anywhere?" Trying to remember had given Elizabeta a headache. And she was probably being overly suspicious last night since she was so tired.

"Not since he left with you. I'm gonna get back to Lovi and Toni now. I'll find you when the churros are done so you can have some nice fresh ones." Eva left Elizabeta to do the searching on her own. There was something Elizabeta had to see.

Elizabeta slipped out before Feliciano could notice and call her over. She started wandering around the labyrinth looking for the definitely lost Roderich. There were voices coming from one of the small rooms. Elizabeta didn't pay much attention to this until she noticed Lars through the ajar door. Unable to fight her curiosity, Elizabeta leaned against the wall by the door and listened closely.

"When does it start?" Lars was asking. Elizabeta hadn't seen who else was in the room.

"In time. No need to be impatient. I hear they're going to be starting soon." That voice...who was it? Somebody Elizabeta had met the day before...one of the Face Cards?

"Then we should before them! Or else it isn't going to work and they'll get her before us." Lars was getting angry now. Elizabeta only ever heard him like this when he was haggling.

"That is true. Also, I fear their new agent is getting dangerously close." The other voice remained calm and did something that sounded like sipping wine.

"Which is why we should activate it immediately." Well that was rash and so unlike Lars it was scary. What was the plan and who did they want? Was Lars going to kidnap somebody? Why? Ransom? Probably.

You know as well as I do that now is much too soon. All components are ready so with a fair warning, it can be put into place. How quickly can you alert?" This question didn't seem to be directed at Lars, but instead a third, quieter person in the room with them.

"I can alert everybody within eight hours, provided that they don't interfere. What time to you want me to say?" Now this is a voice Elizabeta knew much more than she would've liked to. A voice that originally hinted at this plan several weeks ago. The younger sister of a certain childish King.

"Five o' clock, tomorrow morning. We must protect the girl at all costs." Elizabeta realized that this voice belonged to the man Natalia had warned about. Francis Bonnefoy, King of Diamonds. Elizabeta scurried away before anyone could leave the room.

"Did our little fly hear what she was supposed to?" Francis asked turning to look at Natalia.

"Yes. And now she has buzzed away in search of her knight in shining armor. Right, Prince Charming?" a muffled "mmph!" was all the sound Roderich could make between his gag and Natalia sitting on him.

Francis turned to Lars now. "You spent the most time with her, this is sufficient bait, correct?"

"He should be. Though Eva's willing to cooperate if he's not enough."

"I hope she will." A sharp look from Lars. They were still siblings, after all. "No matter. We must capture her before thy do. Or she'll be dead before we can get to her. Come, Natalia. We have much work to do until then. Leave him for Lars to take care of."

**A/N: Man, I'm getting all excited for this story again! Though it kinda went way off track from what I'd originally planned (it wasn't so much of a plan as a pathetic outline). But this is way more complicated and in-depth than my original. What's going to happen? I have no idea! Let's find out, shall we?**


End file.
